


Love and Lakes

by GinnyBadWolf



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Feels, I'll punch you in the feels, It'll probably turn out okay in the end hopefully, Pain, Sadness, Some very slight Gwaine/Percival if you squint, Tears, many feels, sorry if you cry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-02 00:46:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 41,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5227424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GinnyBadWolf/pseuds/GinnyBadWolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Merlin finds out he has been cursed, an entire series of events is set in place that will affect the lives of him and his friends forever. Old love is reconciled, secrets are revealed, friendships broken and reinstated, and much more. Set after 4x03 in sub-episodes. Complete. Mild language.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Cursed Headache

Merlin rubbed his head, making a face. Arthur had once again thrown something at him (this time a helmet) and he had a huge lump in the spot where it had initially struck him. He knew Arthur wouldn't really hurt him on purpose, and he didn't want to tell Arthur, but his head was pounding and he felt as if he was going to collapse.

As Merlin walked on with an ever-slowing pace to the other side of the tower where he could consult Gaius. And when he began to stumble, his vision going blurry and his head throbbing, he knew something was wrong. Something much worse than a helmet blow to the head.

He was found by Arthur, who was on his way dinner to see Guinevere and some of the knights. Merlin was curled up against the stone wall of the castle, unnervingly still. At first, Arthur thought he was just upset that he had gotten a helmet thrown at him at a fairly high speed, but when he went in to shove his shoulder, he noticed how still Merlin was.

"Merlin?" Arthur asked incredulously at first, in case he was awake, but Merlin didn't move an inch. "Merlin?" Arthur inquired again, this time louder, with just a hint of worry. When Merlin stayed curled up against the wall, Arthur turned him over, took one look at his pale face and limp body, and picked him up. He ran to Gaius' chambers.

"Gaius!" Arthur bellowed, a strong sense of urgency in his voice as he burst through the wooden door.

Gaius turned around from what he was doing (concocting a potion for the cook's daughter; she had fallen ill). He immediately put down the vial and rushed to Merlin's side on the bed meant for patients, where Arthur had already laid him down. "What happened, Arthur?" Gaius asked straight away, while checking his pulse.

"I don't know." Arthur had his hand on his head, and was pointedly staring away from Merlin's pale, skinny frame lying on the bed. "I-I did throw a helmet at his head, I think I struck him quite hard..." He could not bare to even take a fleeting look at his loyal manservant, the boy who had been brave and kind to him, his best friend.

Gaius raised an eyebrow, but did not comment. "His pulse is weak. Whatever it was, I strongly doubt it was all from one single blow to the head." Arthur sighed in relief, but it did not quell his worries.

Guinevere and Sir Gwaine burst into the room, looking anxious. "What happened?" Gwaine interrogated loudly, rushing up to his King. As Arthur explained the situation, both men became solemn and their voices hushed, as if they were already at Merlin's deathbed.

Guinevere was already at Merlin's side, her eyes brimming with tears. "Will he be alright?" She tearfully asked Gaius, who was monitoring his heart and checking the pulse again. Gaius didn't respond, but his expression was not one of a hopeful man.

They all stayed by his side, waiting for his eyes to flutter, for his breath to hitch, for his pulse to at least become stronger, but his condition gradually worsened as the moon traveled across the sky.

Guinevere was fretting in the corner, hugging her knees to her chest. She had changed out of her dinner attire and into a shirt and trousers, only leaving Merlin's side because Arthur had promised to stay with him and let her know if anything new happened while she was gone, which, of course, didn't.

Arthur came over and wrapped his arms around her small, sad, curled up body, and let her rest her head on his broad shoulder. Her voice was watery and cracking. "I - I just want him to be alright. He - he's one of my b-best friends!" As she started to really cry, she dug her face into Arthur's chest as he let down his head and let one tear fall down his cheek.

Gwaine had gone down and told Leon, Elyan, and Percival the news, and they had all come back up to the tower and were quietly conversing with Gaius. Every now and then one of the four would go and assist Gaius with a simple task, like getting water or collecting supplies. Each had a look of sympathy and deep sadness written on their faces as they heated up a cloth or brought up some water from the square.

As the night progressed, the endless night, each of them fell into a hopeless silence. The only noise that filled the room was the sound of quiet breaths from each of Merlin's pre-mourners, and the straggling breaths of poor Merlin's lungs trying to stay alive for a little while longer.

At around 3:00, Arthur tried convinced Guinevere to go to sleep, but she would not listen. "You should at least eat something, Gwen. We don't want you to fall ill too." She nodded a bit, and soon found some bread to pick through.

Arthur soon walked forward to Gaius, sick of the waiting. "Have you figured out what is wrong yet?"

Gaius nodded. "I have narrowed it down. I believe someone, possibly Morgana, has cursed him. His symptoms are unique; I have no scientific reason to believe that anything is wrong with him, yet here he is. It is the only conclusion."

Arthur was troubled, and he kept his voice in a low tone. "What does this, eh, curse entail?"

Gaius sighed and spoke quietly. "I believe that is slowly weakens the victim, causing their heart, lungs, and brain to slow down, and, eventually, they will all fail and the victim will be dead." The thought brought a terrible sadness over Gaius' old features, a harbinger of grief and despair. He lowered his head.

"It is possible that he could have had this curse for about a week now. It takes time to really take effect, and he would never had noticed. The only thing that could have worsened his condition is a strong blow to the head." Gaius brought his head up again, a guilt-tripped but non-judgmental gesture.

Arthur looked pointedly down again, bringing his hand to his head and the other down to Merlin's wrist. When he did find a pulse, it was weak. So weak, in fact, it was as if it wasn't there at all.

The revelation of how truly serious Merlin's condition was a bucket of ice-cold water to the face, a cruel call to reality. Arthur's eyes brimmed with tears, as Gwen's had earlier, but he swallowed his pain and looked back up at Gaius' solemn face.

"Is- is there nothing we can do?"

Gaius shook his head, unable to bring himself to speak, but the message was clear: Merlin would be dead before the next day.

The castle was dark, as expected at such an early time, and also silent. It was as if the castle itself had joined in the small, despairing party of the true friends of Emrys.

And then, the silence was disturbed by a small sound. The sound of a hitch in someone's weak breath, the sight of fluttering eyelids that had been closed for what everyone thought would be forevermore, and a tiny, "Help me."

Sorry.


	2. Lake Avalon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just read it, goddamn.

"Merlin!" Arthur yelled in both relief and disbelief. Gwen, Gwaine, Leon, and Percival all ran to Merlin's bed, where he was yes, awake, but barely so. Each one of them said their own hello, such as: "Oh, I'm so glad you're back!" and: "You really had us worried there, mate."

Merlin gave a small smile/grimace, but his eyes were sad. "I'm -" he coughed - "not alright. You-" he coughed again - "still have reason to worry." As the smiles slid off of each one of his friend's faces, he felt guilty for not reassuring them and greeting them, but he had no time for either.

"I'm dying." They empty, sad, dark word bounced around the room, silencing the briefly hopeful individuals. The sun had been rising, shining brightly for a small moment, before illuminating the dark clouds outside. The difference between their dark, lonely, unimaginably horrible night and this new morning was almost indistinguishable.

Arthur was the first to speak up. "No, you're not." He said with fake bravado. "You're fine Merlin, why else would you be awake?"

Merlin let out a small breath, because he had only inhaled a small amount as well. "If Morgana had wanted to kill me, do you really think she wouldn't want me to suffer through my final day?"

Each one of them thought, "So it was Morgana." And yet, none of them had the heart to say something after what bad news they just heard.

Merlin knew that the Caillech was very powerful, and as Morgana had opened the veil and unleashed the Dorocha a few weeks ago, the Caillech would be loyal to her. He knew that this curse was of Morgana's doing: it had her name written all over it. But he had a feeling it was the Caillech who had carried out this deed upon him, and her magic could not be broken by even the most powerful of sorcerers.

However, he didn't want to explain this to his friends, and he couldn't because his breath was short and weak. He did cough a few times, but that was all the noise that could be heard in the room.

"T-take me to the lake. Lake Avalon. P-please." As his lungs struggled to get air, and his heart pumped along as fast as it could go (which wasn't very fast at all), Merlin started to feel the real weight of what had been done to him. His body was slowly but surely failing until he would simply fade out of the world. And he was scared.

Gwaine looked incredulous. "Lake Avalon? Why there?" But a small look from the rest of the group said not to disrespect the wishes of a dying man. Guinevere saw all this going on, and she broke into a fresh wave of silent tears.

Arthur turned to Merlin to tell him to pack his bags and ready the horses, but he found that ever constant figure by his side back on the bed, as he had been for the past twelve hours. He simply bowed his head and signaled to the other knights to prepare for the trip.

Guinevere and Gaius stayed with Merlin. Gaius gave Merlin a sleeping draught, to keep him asleep and out of his misery for a while, while he and Guinevere hugged and exchanged small stories and memories of Merlin. Soon, when Percival came back up to tell them it was time to leave, Gwen picked up her bag as Percival carried Merlin out of the castle and onto one of the horses.

Gaius stayed behind, looking out one of the windows and locked his door. He would be helping nobody today.

Merlin slowly woke up again, about an hour later, leaning on the back of a horse trotting through the woods. Arthur, who was on the horse on his direct left, gave him a small smile. "How are you feeling, Merlin?"

Merlin chuckled and said, "Like death."

Arthur frowned. "That's not funny, Merlin. I-I'm worried about you."

Merlin gave a confused grin to Arthur and replied, "Not like you to talk all about your feelings like that."

Arthur stared forward, hard, and murmured, "And it's not like you to be sick and dying."

There was a small silence, and then: "Why do you want to go to Lake Avalon?"

"There was this gi - um, it's a very beautiful place and that is where I'd like to be when I - er -" but he trailed off instead of finishing his sentence.

Arthur had nothing to say, but a long time later: "The horses are getting tired. We have no time to rest them, so we are going to leave them here and walk the rest of the way." He felt bad, for Merlin's sake, but he helped Merlin of his horse and gave him a shoulder to lean on as they hobbled on.

Merlin was breathing fast and sharply, the exercise exhausting him. He gave a long sigh and said, "Bloody hell. This is one curse." Arthur gave a short laugh, spurred on by Merlin's everlasting smile, and they soon made it into the clearing where Lake Avalon was.

Merlin let go of Arthur's shoulder and stumbled on for about two feet before quickly collapsing into a heap on the shore. The others stayed behind, watching his sad figure rest his hand in the blue water.

"Could-could you give me a moment alone? I will need some space - a lot of space. I really need this."

The knights and Gwen nodded, confused, and soon they had retreated well out of earshot into the woods, where they started a fire and made quiet conversation.

Once he knew he was alone, Merlin called out to Kilgharrah: "O drakon, e male so ftengometta tesd'hup'anankes!" Within a minute, the Great Dragon was resting on the bank.

"What is it, young warlock?"

"I am going to die. This is my goodbye to you, Kilgharrah."

"I am sorry to see you go. You are a great and powerful being, Merlin, and deserve more time than you tell me you have."

Merlin shuddered with a gasp.

"You should go now, Kilgharrah. I'm sorry that our goodbye was so short, but my friends will not be happy to see you."

"Goodbye, young warlock."

As the Great Dragon flew away, into the mountains and disappearing, Merlin felt what was like a fire licking in his chest, keeping him from breathing. With all his might, and all his strength, he pulled himself up onto his arms and bellowed, "Arthur!"

Soon, Arthur appeared with the rest of Merlin's friends.

"Goodbye," Merlin rasped. "Thank you." And soon, his limp, cold body fell to the ground.

Arthur rushed to his side and put his hands under Merlin's head, lifting his best friend's lifeless body up. "No," he whispered, tears streaming quickly down his face. "No, Merlin, please."

He hugged the boy's head into his chest and cried. He had told Merlin long ago never to waste his tears on another man, and yet, here he was, giving all the tears he had to the poor servant boy.

"I'm not ready to say goodbye," he whispered.


	3. Golden Waters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fuck you. Read it and you'll find out.
> 
> (P.S. Love you guys for reading this <3)

Arthur sat there, crying, as his best friend lay dead in his arms. Merlin, his best friend... dead. He had even less time because Arthur had decided to throw a helmet at his head, in a foolish fit of anger. Because he, Arthur, was slightly annoyed, he shortened Merlin's lifespan by a week.

Arthur looked down on his pale, cold, lifeless face. "I'm sorry, friend. It's my fault. I wish, I-I wish I had more time... that you had more time..."

As he sat and cried, cried forever, cried until his eyes just could not cry anymore, his friends sat with him. Guinevere sobbed, high, sharp, despairing sounds of pure sadness. Gwaine, Leon, Percival, and Elyan astonishingly shed their tears for Merlin as well; without him, they wouldn't be where they were now. Without him, most of them wouldn't be knights or wouldn't be the people they were that day. Merlin had done everything for them, and deserved everything in return. But what did he get? A painful death, something none of them would ever wish upon one of the kindest souls any of them had the fortune to meet.

Suddenly, a small light began to burst through the lake, starting in the center and spreading out across the rest of the lake until the lake that was blue was turned gold, spreading light and warmth across the sad, cold scene.

The group of mourners turned their tear-streaked faces to the lake, basking in the glory, yet confused. Arthur slowly laid down Merlin's body and pulled out his sword, staring blankly around at the pool of golden water.

A small, frail, yet beautiful figure rose out of the water, straight black hair flowing. She did a sort of run across the top of the water, running to Merlin. She knelt down on the shore and reached her hands out to him, but Arthur, standing up shakily and pointing his sword at her blocked her view.

"Stay away, sorceress." His lip was put out, and he had a hardened and intimidating look on his face, as if he did not care what he did and what happened to anyone anymore.

Her voice was smooth and young, nice to listen to. "I mean him no harm. I just want to help Merlin." The look in her eyes was urgent, and she was gazing sadly at the Merlin's face, which was currently lain down on the gravel. The love in her voice was hidden, but once you tore away her words and listened, the caring was deep and she couldn't have loved him more.

However, Arthur was not in the mood for looking for the love in people's voices and wouldn't be able to tell now, of all times.

"He is dead, sorceress. I will not have you disrespect his body."

The girl looked up at Arthur after a minute. She had been gazing down at Merlin's face in longing, and when she tilted her face up to face to the King, a single tear had trickled down her cheek.

"Let me." She had such a force, such an undertone of urgency in her voice that Arthur could not help but step aside, confused and angry, and watch as she cupped Merlin's limp cheeks in her hands and muttered a few words.

Leon looked upon her, almost recognizing her. He suddenly felt as if he needed to speak out against what he thought she was going to do.

"There is powerful magic behind Merlin's death; you could not lift it. He is dead." The resignation in his voice was devastating, but she would not listen.

She continued to speak in a language none of them knew or understood until her eyes shined gold for a second, and then went back to their normal color: brown. A small noise came from Merlin: he had exhaled.

Arthur stared down at Merlin, not believing what he was seeing. Could he be alive? He didn't dare hope.

Arthur looked down at the girl, who was once again gazing at Merlin's not-so-lifeless face. "What are you? How could you have lifted the curse?"

She faced him, a quick turn, and said: "I am the Lady of the Lake. My magic is much more powerful than you could imagine."

Arthur was shocked, and so were the knights. What could this powerful sorceress want with Merlin?

Merlin breathed in again, a small, ragged, rasping sound, but still a good sound. He exhaled a long time later, still coming back.

The Lady explained to all of the men and Gwen. "He was never meant to be dead, so bringing him back was easy enough for someone like me. The balance in the world has not been interrupted. All that I had to do was lift the curse, and he would come back. Merlin wasn't very far gone."

Nobody said a word as Merlin slowly, carefully opened his eyes to discover all of his friends kneeling around him, holding his hand or propping up his head or something. Guinevere knelt into Merlin's face and said, "Merlin? Are you alright?"

After a minute or two, he responded. "Tired as hell. Died. But I'm alive now, aren't I?" A small smile aroused on his face, and soon it caught on to everyone in the group.

Merlin looked around for a second. Then, he saw a face that he didn't remember coming with them on the trip. He sat up and turned to crawl forward, quickly, hoping, dreaming, praying that it was the person he thought it was.

Everyone else in the group was startled by this sudden action, and disturbed by the fact that Merlin's eyelids drooped again for a second, and that he was leaning heavily on his arms to support him, but the Lady wasn't.

"Freya!" The words bounded off of Merlin's lips, louder than anything he had said earlier, and he pushed himself forward to his old love.

He cupped Freya's face in his palms, and she did the same with his, whispering words of love to each other before Merlin stood on his knees and kissed Freya with such a passion that the rest of the group all almost gasped in shock.

When they pulled apart, Merlin's breath was ragged and labored, but you could almost hear his smile. "Freya," he whispered. The two of them leaned their foreheads together, still holding each other.

Arthur glanced at Guinevere, his eyebrows furrowed into a confused and slightly disturbed expression. Merlin had somehow found the strength to launch himself forward, kiss a girl nobody here knew for a surprisingly long time, and hadn't even told his friends who she was? And how would Merlin know this... Freya? She was a sorceress, and one that seemed to be powerful and had a thing with this lake. Gwen's face conveyed no different feelings.

Freya was exhilarated. The one she loved was dead, and she brought him back, and they were reunited... temporarily. They had kissed, though, and she was out of breath, though not nearly as bad as Merlin was. But she was glad, for his suffering was now over.

She stared into Merlin's blue eyes, watched as a bit of color came back into his skin, and looked at his raven-black hair, which (she had to admit) was looking somehow even better from a new haircut.

The love inside of her swelled until she could bear it no more, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed him close to her, inhaling his scent and feeling a leap in her heart as he kissed her forehead.

They looked at each other and smiled, but Freya's smile became sad, because their time was temporary. She said, "I've missed you. I've missed you so much, and I will miss you."

Merlin furrowed his brow. "W-what are you talking about? You're alive, you're here!"

Freya's lip began to tremble, but she said: "I'm not alive. I'm the Lady of the Lake, Merlin, and I can never leave. I'm sorry."

Merlin's expression became distressed, and he clutched her and held her closer. "I don't want you to leave. I'll miss you. I need you, Freya. Please!"

Freya started to cry, but she whispered, "I'll see you again soon, Merlin. I promise." Merlin kissed the top of her head before she started to sink into the water and the lake slowly turned blue again.

Merlin still had a hand stretched out towards the water, hoping that she would reach her hand out again, but no hand reached out to take his. As he lowered his hand, the others sensed that it was a sensitive moment, and they all mumbled their excuses to go back to where they had made camp.

Arthur stayed with Merlin, as an unimaginably painful sob rose up out of Merlin, a dry, racking, painful sob, and tears fell down his face. "Freya!" He yelled. "Freya..." Arthur moved closer to the broken man on the shore, and put an arm around his shoulder as Merlin sobbed into Arthur's shirt.

Arthur stayed until Merlin could cry no more, and then once again collapsed with exhaustion. They rode back to Camelot that day, taking it slow, and by nightfall, Merlin was once again in Gaius' chambers.

Upon seeing Merlin, Gaius ran and embraced him gratefully, so relieved to see him alive he had no words. And although Merlin was smiling, there was a little something broken.


	4. Mediocre Advice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Sigh*

-3 Months Later-

Merlin was pouring out Arthur's bath water as the King dried himself off. He was meeting Guinevere for a private dinner, and he had to look absolutely astonishingly handsome. Arthur believed he was already absolutely astonishingly handsome, and it took a couple insults from Merlin to humble him.

Secretly, Merlin felt a little jealous of Arthur. His love was still alive, and their love was allowed, and their love was real... Merlin shook the thought from his head. He knew thinking about Freya would only worsen his mood. But it seemed that everywhere he turned, Freya was put in his mind, a beautiful wound that maybe one day would only be a scar. But for now, it was open and bleeding.

Without thinking, Merlin had both picked out Arthur's clothes and dressed him. Arthur was simply getting ready and checking his hair in the mirror when he noticed Merlin sitting down in one of the chairs, staring off into space blankly.

Arthur put on a straight face, turned around, and walked over to where Merlin was sitting miserably.

He sat down beside him, and Merlin's attention was suddenly on Arthur, plastering a fake smile on his face. "Yes, sire?"

Arthur looked at him and sighed. "I know something's wrong, Merlin. Something's been troubling you; you just haven't been yourself these days. It's been a week since you last really smiled."

Merlin stared at him. "Uh, no, nothing's wrong, sire. I've just been, eh, tired doing all of these chores for you and Gaius. And still recovering from the curse." Merlin was taking a long time to get stronger: his breath was still weak and he couldn't do any activities that costed him much energy.

Merlin suddenly realized he'd made a mistake bringing the whole Avalon incident back into the light. Arthur would remember about Freya, and he would simply make the wound worse...

"Ah," Arthur exclaimed. "The girl. Freya, was it?"

Merlin gulped and nodded slowly.

"Listen, Merlin. I don't think it's a good idea that you see her again. She is, after all, a sorceress, and you know the law against that. If someone caught you the court would not look kindly upon you, even if I did. Anyway, she is the Lady of the Lake, and cannot leave Lake Avalon. I know how you want to see her, but it will only reopen old wounds. And you are... my friend, Merlin, and I don't want to see you the way you've been these past days. The best way to deal with this is just to let it heal."

Merlin nodded, more miserable and heavy-hearted as he was before, and Arthur pushed his shoulder, and said, "Good." before pushing himself out of his chair and went off to have dinner with Guinevere.

As it was getting late, and it seemed Arthur would not need him that night, Merlin headed back to Gaius' chambers, where he wanted just to crawl into bed and have somebody who would understand hold him... Freya. Freya would understand, and yet she was the whole problem.

Gaius was not surprised to see Merlin depressedly trooping through the room without saying hello, but he was still disappointed. However, it seemed Merlin was already feeling horrible, as he had these past months, and he would not disturb him.

Merlin simply went to bed, where he dreamed of finding Freya, his Freya, alive and well and not cursed. He dreamed of their future, and being together, and growing old together and being happy. But the whole dream had a shadow over it, and Merlin knew what the shadow meant. It meant that it would never be true.

Meanwhile, Guinevere and Arthur were having a very nice, romantic dinner. However, Arthur seemed troubled, and Gwen just couldn't bear to see him worried like that.

"What is it, Arthur?" Gwen asked quietly. "What's wrong? Something's been troubling you."

Arthur sighed and looked at the table. When he looked back up again, he said: "It's Merlin. He just hasn't been...himself these days. I know it's that girl in the lake who healed him, that sorceress named Freya. I just don't know what to do, but Merlin is miserable, and he's my best friend. I feel like I should do something about it, and I already have, but I don't think it's made him any better."

Guinevere, surprised at this caring speech, replied. "You told him to let it heal, didn't you? I think that that's not the best way to go about doing things, but she is a sorceress, and it could cause much trouble. In the long run, it's better for Merlin. He knows that magic is outlawed."

This made Arthur think. "It-it's just that ever since Freya healed Merlin that I've started to doubt that magic is evil. Maybe it's not the magic that is bad, but the people who wield it could be bad."

Gwen, continuing his thought, murmured: "Like a sword. Anyone could use it for evil, but it can be used for good." Arthur nodded for a second, and then shook his head.

"No," he said. "My father's life work was devoted to ridding the world of magic. I cannot betray him like that."

Gwen gave a sad smile and reached out her hand for his. They held hands across the table. "I know. It is your decision, Arthur, and you should do whatever you think best."

Arthur came across the table, embraced her, and kissed her forehead. "You always know what to say," he whispered, and they left the dinner table still holding hands.

Merlin's sleep had gone from longing to incredible sadness, waiting for Freya by the shore of Lake Avalon. He was reliving their worst moments; finding out she was cursed, watching her being hurt by Arthur, holding her as she died, seeing her flaming boat floating across Lake Avalon, her leaving him after bringing him back. And though he did not know it, Merlin was crying.

He was crying.


	5. Dark Encounters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> no

Although Merlin was most certainly not himself, and nor did he think he ever would be again, he was pretending to have been healing from the whole Freya scenario so as to put Arthur off his trail. And Arthur was believing his joking banter, the perky smiles, his words that sounded joyful. Sometimes Merlin was really feeling joyful, but that was a rare occasion, and he felt fake and depressed the rest of the time.

Arthur had no clue; his facade was too good. Merlin was starting to regret putting up the act, and he wish his best friend was still there to confide in. But it was too late, and Merlin would have to carry on his whole life missing Freya and feeling alone.

Merlin was feeling bad for himself again when he heard the warning bells, a loud, big sound that gave him a scared feeling. He jumped up, forgetting about Freya for a moment, and ran down to the main halls where he saw Arthur. Running quickly to catch up with him, Merlin worriedly asked Arthur: "What's wrong, what's happening?"

Arthur, still staring straight ahead with many guards trooping behind him, answered quickly. "It's Morgana," he stated. "She's doing something in Camelot. We don't know what, but we caught one of her associates and are questioning him as we speak."

Merlin, who was still recovering from Morgana's curse, drew in a sharp and ragged breath. Arthur appeared to be concerned that Merlin was not totally healed, but he said nothing.

Merlin, pretending nothing had happened, quickly replied. "Well, what can I do to help?"

Arthur said, "We're going into the woods to try and find Morgana. You're coming with me and the knights." His armor was already on and ready; apparently, there was no time to waste with Merlin dressing him.

Once they reached the woods, Arthur and his knights set off in a run. Arthur made a few signals to Leon, who was standing next to him, and Leon informed the rest of the group silently to break up into groups of two.

Arthur and Merlin stayed together as they trekked through the woods, jumping at the smallest snap and bracing themselves when they saw a shadow run by, but it was always one of the other pairs of knights and guards.

Finally, when the sun was going down and it was almost impossible to see, Merlin and Arthur stopped in their walk through the forest. Everything was silent; there were no chirping birds, buzzing bees, or deer walking. That could only mean bad things in this scenario. They slowed down and stayed hidden and stealthy. Arthur gave a concerned look back at Merlin - was he even there? He was surprised to see Merlin still there, navigating his way through the forest with an apparent ease and grace that was certainly not there before.

Soon, they saw a figure walking out from behind trees. A dark and familiar figure; Morgana.

As she came into the moonlight, they could see her familiar smirk, her dark, messy, raven-black hair, and her tight black laced dress. She looked evil - very evil. Her green eyes glinted with rage, malice, and anticipation of the destruction she planned to wreak soon. "Why, hello, dear brother." On brother, she released a little bit of the anger she was feeling with a bitter clip at the end.

Arthur, hearing this, was looking saddened and disappointed. "What happened, Morgana? Why are you like this? We loved you and cared for you. We did not try to hurt you. You were so caring and compassionate. Why? Why have you changed?"

Morgana looked bored, but she gave a smirk once again. "Do not play games with me, Arthur. You are not worth my time." She was pleased with the results: Arthur looked a bit deflated and upset.

He thinned his lips and hardened his eyes. "Then I have no choice." He drew his sword and charged at Morgana, but she showed no fear.

"Please, Arthur. It's not as if you could hurt me." With a gleam of her eyes, she knocked him off his feet. Instantly, he shot back up, but this time she knocked him down before he even moved two steps. This time, he landed face down and was winded. She picked up the sword with her magic and held it up against his back.

"How easy it is to have you at my mercy," Morgana remarked haughtily, and she arched her eyebrow at Arthur's winded attempts to get up. "Almost like it was when we were children. How good does it feel to know that your beloved Morgana is beating you again?!" Her smirk turned into gritted teeth, and her eyes showed all the rage as they turned gold and pressed the sword harder against Arthur's back.

Meanwhile, Merlin was hiding behind a tree. Well, not really hiding, just waiting. He was waiting for the perfect time to use his magic against Morgana.

She spoke to Arthur, taunting and teasing him, using her magic to pain him and make him regret ever looking for her. Eventually, it was too much for him, and he passed out. Merlin itched to jump out behind the tree and give Morgana a taste of her own medicine, but he held himself back. Arthur could not know. So it came as a relief to Merlin to hear that Arthur had collapsed, because at least it meant that he was temporarily put out of his misery.

Just then, Merlin leapt out from behind the tree. (Just so you know, in my own fanfiction-y world, Morgana knows that Merlin is Emrys. Sorry to interrupt your feels-ing.) Morgana, unsuspecting, turned back, and was greeted with a force knocking her backwards into the side of a bank of dirt.

Soon enough, she recovered and bowed her head down threateningly. "You will pay for this, Emrys." She put her hands out in front of her, her palms facing each other, and a small ball of fire was formed in the space between her hands. She smiled evilly, and pushed forward the ball of fire heading straight for Merlin.

As it got closer to him, it became larger and larger until it was much bigger than him. In the nick of time, Merlin created a ball of wind that enveloped him as the fire came around him as well, shielding him but making the air around him almost unbearably hot. Morgana, who he could see dimly through the ball of fire, was slowly walking closer to him and making the ball of fire hotter and hotter, her smirk getting bigger and bigger. The fire was turning white, replacing the red and orange that it had been just moments before. Instead, the red and orange took its place painfully on Merlin.

Drops of sweat were falling down around Merlin, and he could feel his skin burning. He knew that even though he was a much more powerful sorcerer than Morgana, he was weaker right now and would not be able to outlast her magic.

His muscles were rigid, shaking with exhaustion as he held them up trying to maintain the force field of wind surrounding him and pushing away the ball of fire. It was closing in on him, making him bend down and curl in on himself to keep himself in the safe area.

Then he remembered something worth living for. Something that he needed to overpower Morgana's magic for. Something that he needed dearly. Freya.

He pushed outward with the magic, using all his strength and all his power to force back the flames, sweat dripping, muscles shaking, eyes watering, until suddenly the wind forced out the flames and extinguished them in one final earth-shaking blow.

Morgana was pushed back, as a pulse of energy from the flames being extinguished, and she fell over again. She stared back up at Merlin with a newfound fear of his power and magic.

He came up close and leaned into her shocked face. "I am Emrys, the most powerful warlock to ever live. Do not test my power."

He was about to deliver the final blow to her when she suddenly smiled again, that aggravating, beautiful, yet dark and evil smile. In a flash of darkness and shadows, she whisked herself away and into the night.

Merlin stared up at the sky, angry, when he remembered that Arthur was still unconscious. He ran over to where Arthur lay, cold and clammy. He shook him, yelled in his ear, and slapped him multiple times before he woke up.

Arthur's eyes were dazed and he looked tired, but not in bad health. "What happened? Is she gone?" he asked Merlin. Merlin smiled, and said, "She's gone. Don't ask how."

Arthur smiled, and gripped Merlin's forearm as he pulled him up. The two, Arthur leaning on Merlin's shoulder, limped to a secluded area where they would make camp for the night.


	6. Campfire Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to leave this blank forever now. Do not expect anything from me.

Arthur and Merlin were not asleep; they hadn't been and they wouldn't for the rest of the night. Morgana had given them a scare, and both insisted on keeping watch in case she showed up again. Eventually, the just stayed up together.

Merlin was sitting, his back hunched, on top of a rock, while Arthur was laying against rock wall. Arthur was still in pain from his encounter with Morgana, and though he tried not to show it, Merlin was still worried for him. It was a terrible ordeal - how was Arthur taking it all in stride? Merlin resolved to force him to Gaius later, no matter what means he had to use.

Arthur was looking at Merlin, puzzled. How had he escaped Morgana's wrath? It was a mystery. He was starting to wonder if Merlin had simply run away and come back when Morgana was gone, but then he looked closer.

On Merlin's arm were angry red burns, reaching up and down. They looked painful, very painful, and Arthur immediately realized that these burns were not from natural causes.

"Merlin, what happened to you? Good god, look at your arm!"

Merlin glanced down at his arm, where he saw the burns and realized he'd have to come up with an explanation. He decided to stick close to the truth.

"Morgana," he stated. "she sent a ball of fire at me. She thought she had killed me, and stopped, but I was alive. Fine now."

Arthur still looked troubled, but he played it off. "Good," he smiled. "Because when we get back your going to have to polish my armour."

Merlin considered making it sound worse than it was, but he decided against it. "Dollophead."

Arthur gave a chuckle, relieved that Merlin was joking with him again. It had been a while. He knew that Merlin was getting better, but suddenly it seemed as if he were pretending to recover from Freya simply to make Arthur happy.

"Look," he said, Merlin suddenly looking up in confusion. "I know you're only pretending to get over that girl, Freya, just for my sake." Merlin looked as if he were going to refuse, but Arthur talked over him. "I know, Merlin. There's nothing you could keep from me."

Merlin thought that statement laughable, very laughable, and he fought to keep his face straight. To Arthur, his expression looked pained. Arthur continued on with his elaborate speech.

"Merlin, you are my, er, best friend, despite the fact that you are clumsy, forgetful, idiotic, lazy, a bad listener, and seem to spend most of your time in the tavern." Merlin just blinked, internally laughing because Arthur simply had no clue what Merlin did for him. "But I am worried for you. Maybe this sorceress girl means more to you than I know."

Merlin nodded. Arthur finally understood, but he felt that Arthur just didn't understand well enough.

"Well," Merlin admitted, "she is beautiful. I... I love her, and she means everything to me. I just wish she and I were still able to be together."

Arthur was not expecting such an answer, but he felt honored that Merlin trusted him so. "It's like with me and Guinevere," he whispered, surprised that his manservant could feel about something the same way he did. Then, he spoke up. "How did you come to know Freya?"

Merlin looked uncomfortable, but he decided to trust Arthur. They were best friends, after all.

"She... she was in a bounty hunter's cage. I helped her escape, and hid her under the city. We... we fell in love, and planned to run away together. But she didn't want me to abandon my life her just for her, so she ran away herself. But it went wrong, and the guards caught her. She... she was killed. I brought her to Lake Avalon and gave her the proper funeral. That's what happened." Merlin left out very important details, such as how Merlin used magic to help her, Freya was a Druid and a Bastet, and that it was Arthur who had killed her. It was better that way.

Arthur looked apologetic, but he didn't recognize the story. He didn't realize his manservant had been so brave, or so caring. He hadn't known that Freya was dead, and that it was because of the knights of Camelot.

Merlin looked away, afraid he had said too much. He knew that Arthur wasn't dumb, whatever he might say to that clotpole of a King, and he didn't want him to put two and two together, but it was soon apparent that he wouldn't.

"Is-is it wrong to want to go back and visit her?" Merlin asked tenderly, hoping Arthur wouldn't say no.

Arthur, who was being sensitive for once, said: "If it were with me and Gwen, of course I would want to go back. In fact, I would go back even if my master said not to." Arthur gave him a sly smile, letting him know it was okay if he were to go back and visit Freya.

Merlin, grateful for the understanding Arthur had shown, felt much better.

"Thank you, Arthur. You are a good friend, even though you're a complete and total clotpole."

Arthur was amused, and he made a pretend frown. "Thank you, complete and total idiot."

Their jokes about just how stupid, ugly, fat, annoying, etc, the other person was continued until Arthur couldn't keep his eyes open any longer.

"Good night, you forgetful toad." Murmured Arthur.

"Good night, you fat dollophead." Whispered back Merlin.

And once Merlin was sure that Arthur was asleep, he made the campfire flames dance. His stomach filled with contenedtness, for the first time in months, and so Merlin went to sleep.


	7. Ignoring Your Injury 101

Leaning on each other's shoulders again, the two scarred, troubled, injured, yet alive young men limped back to Camelot. Upon arrival, the knights clapped their King on the arm as Gaius came striding forward quickly to attend to their wounds. At least Merlin wouldn't have to force Arthur to get checked over, then.

Arthur was sent to his room, where he would rest as Gwen watched over him. All he needed was food, water, and sleep and he would make a quick recovery. However, Merlin's burns were worse than they looked, and he could not work for a few days.

Merlin was already accustomed to the stinging, burning pain that came with his injury, so the fact that he had gotten three days off because of his grievous burns caused him great joy. Gaius, amused, walked out of Merlin's room chuckling. He waited on asking Merlin what had happened, hoping to maintain his happiness for just a moment longer.

Around noon, Merlin came out of his bedroom, in pain from the tight bandages but also in high spirits. He limped down the stairs, the red lines streaking down his legs sending small shoots of pain up as he took a step. "Hello," he said, a smile lighting up his features.

Gwen, who had entered the room, seeing Merlin, ran over to hug him. "Oh, thank goodness you're alright," she said, "And thank you for keeping Arthur safe too." Merlin, remembering that Guinevere and Arthur got to be together and happy, smiled a little less widely.

Gwen stepped back to look at him. "Do you want to go see him? I'm sure he'd be glad to see you're doing better." Merlin nodded, and started limping down to Arthur's chambers.

When he opened the door, Arthur was sitting up in bed and eating his lunch. "Ah," he said, "there you are. I need you to clean my room, muck the stables, clean the horses, and-" When he saw Merlin lifting up his arm, which were in pretty painful looking bandages, he stopped.

"I can't," Merlin interjected. "The burns I got from Morgana - they are very serious." He said so with a smile. "I have three days off of work." Arthur looked scandalized.

"Three days?! How will I get on for three days without a servant?!"

Merlin grinned, amused. "So you do need me!"

Arthur, mouth open, realized what trap he had been led into. "Er, no, I don't need you. I am a King, after all, and can do things on my own. I don't need some lazy servant to do everything for me." Both of them knew this wasn't true at all, which both enhanced Merlin's smile and deepened Arthur's frown.

Merlin's smile soon faded into the sad and lonely face Arthur had become accustomed to seeing in the last three months. Arthur, suddenly worried, said, "You know, I -" but Merlin cut him off once again.

"I - I just want to go see Freya." He sighed, and looked away from Arthur, ashamed.

Arthur dropped his arrogant, rude demeanor and looked on, worriedly, at his friend. "I'll come with you." When Merlin seemed about to object, he said, "I do need to get out, and I doubt Morgana is still out there."

Merlin submitted, and said: "Just us two, right? I - I don't really want anyone else there."

Arthur gave a small smile and said kindly, "Just us two."

They prepared to ride out before first light, just in case Gaius objected. It would not be a mission that was widely known: only Guinevere was aware of the plans they had made.

Merlin was tired, and he had a hard time preparing the horses because of his left arm especially; it twinged and burned quite horribly whenever he lifted it up too high. Arthur said nothing, but he loaded up Merlin's horse too. He felt bad for him.

Soon, when the moon was at its highest peak, Arthur and Merlin set off for the woods, being quiet and trying not to be seen.

The guards, Arthur decided, were not very perceptive. He would have to train them more thoroughly, he thought, as both he and Merlin snuck out with their horses and bags. Didn't hear or see much, did they?

As he glanced over at Merlin, his face was set, pale and determined in the moonlight. The boy had grown up some, and he suddenly looked much older than he really was. Especially his eyes; his eyes looked older than they had any right to be.

Arthur considered elbowing him, trying to get him to joke again, but he felt that his clumsy oaf of a servant would not take that in a stealthy, quiet sort of way, so he crawled along as he was before.

As soon as the two made their way into the woods, their spirits were lifted, and they laughed for a little while at the rash decision they had made, but they were glad for it. They had just gotten out of the woods, just got back from a bad experience, and there they were putting themselves back in danger.


	8. Lost in Both Thought and Woods

Soon after they entered the woods, Merlin realized that he had absolutely no idea where they were. This became obvious when the sun rose, because they had never even seen the place where they currently were before. Arthur seemed peeved.

As they picked their way back through the woods, searching for some place that they recognized, Arthur suddenly stopped moving. He held up a hand to signal to Merlin that he should stop too, and turned his head and put a finger over his lips.

After a few seconds, they heard crunching leaves, and they turned around to see about 10 bandits behind them. Upon sight, the bandits let out a terrifying roar and charged!

Arthur pulled out his sword and held it steady. Merlin didn't have any weapons, so he picked up a heavy branch to deflect any swords if he could. The two tired, injured young men were a pitiful sight until Arthur started to fight as well.

The first bandit and Arthur matched swords, above their heads, and then Arthur forced his sword out of his hands and slashed his side as the next bandit came to attack. As soon as he got the chance, he picked up the first bandit's sword and threw it to Merlin, who caught it and tried to defend himself as best he could.

Soon, there were only about three bandits left, two of them fighting Arthur at the same time. One was doggedly pursuing Merlin, who was doing his best to keep himself alive. Meanwhile, Arthur was doing well against the two men, who were admittedly not bad swordsmen.

The bandit who was chasing Merlin soon locked swords with him, and they pushed their swords against each other with all their might. Looking away, Merlin's eyes flashed gold, and he found the strength to push the bandit's sword aside. Momentarily distracted, the bandit was forced back, where Merlin hit him in the forehead with the sword handle. Once he was down, Merlin stabbed his side and put him out of action, but reluctantly so.

Arthur, who was looking in his direction, was both proud and confused about his manservant. Since when was he good with a sword? But his preoccupation with Merlin cost him precious moments in the fight, and soon the two were triumphing over him.

Merlin tried to run, but he knew it would be to no avail; he would not get there in time to save Arthur. So, instead, his eyes flashed gold again, and one of the bandit's swords missed and hit the other bandit, who fell to the ground. Taking advantage of the second that this happened, Arthur stabbed the second bandit and he joined his comrade on the ground.

Merlin jogged over to where Arthur stood over many bandits. "I - I can't believe we just did that," Merlin laughed, a bit out of breath.

Arthur chuckled. "Yeah." After a few seconds, he said: "Where are we?"

Merlin bit his lip. "About that..."

Arthur looked up at him. "You, you incompetent fool, have gotten us long, haven't you?"

Merlin looked unbelieving. "Me? It's not all my fault!"

Arthur picked up his bags and stuffed them into Merlin's arms. "Well, if you're not so stupid that you got us lost in the middle of the woods, then you can find us a way out, can't you?"

Merlin sighed, straightened his mouth into an annoyed but determined expression, and started walking. The sun was at it's highest point, and it was easier to see. He hoped he could find his way back soon enough, but since it was the late autumn, it was quite cold and Merlin couldn't think straight.

After a long time of guiding horses and lugging bags around, Merlin finally found a place he recognized. As soon, as he had seen the rock, which he knew was on the way to Lake Avalon, he slumped against a tree in exhaustion. It had taken almost all day to find it, and the sun was setting in his tired eyes.

Arthur was annoyed, and considered kicking him until he woke and made them dinner, but remembered the burns running all over his body and decided that his manservant was injured, and shouldn't have even been outside of his room. It was cruel enough to wake him up, let alone kick him awake. He left him and ate some fruit instead.

Arthur looked at Merlin's face. He had definitely lost some weight over the last few months, and his cheeks were more hollow and suddenly he looked old. His best friend was upset, and he would do anything to help him, even if it meant consorting with sorcerers.

He wondered if this Freya girl was really worth it: worth the danger, worth the treason, worth the time. She was only a girl, after all, and to risk so much for so little... and then Arthur remembered. His and Guinevere's relationship was not, strictly speaking, legal. To ruin whatever Merlin had with Freya would be like ruining what he and Gwen had, and he would not do it.

After a couple minutes, he began to feel restless, so he got up and went for a walk. The woods were beautiful at this time of night, but also dark, so Arthur had to light a fire to mark where their camp was.

As he strolled through the woods, he began to think about his manservant. He was lazy, forgetful, and spent most of his time at the tavern, but he soon realized that perhaps this wasn't strictly true. Truth be told, Merlin was loyal, brave, kind, and well-meaning. He just felt that Merlin's actions didn't show it, though his nature bore all the signs of a pure character.

Suddenly confused, he started to think harder. Merlin was of the quiet, awkward sort, not the kind of person you would expect to see in a tavern all the time, drinking away his money. But whenever Merlin wasn't there when he should have been, Gaius had said he was at the tavern. It just didn't add up. Eventually, he resolved that he would go into the tavern with a drawing of Merlin and ask the bartender if he recognized him.

He furrowed his brow, deep in thought. Why would Gaius lie about where Merlin was? Was there something Merlin wasn't telling him? And then he remembered: Freya. He would have been sneaking out to see Freya. Yet he wasn't sure... wouldn't Merlin have said that he wasn't in the tavern, that he was going to see Freya every time Gaius had covered up for him? Wouldn't he have wanted to clear that up?

And he redoubled on his efforts in remembering again, thinking about the events of the past three months. Merlin had indeed gone out for a day or a couple hours, and Gaius had said that he was at the tavern. He hadn't needed to, and yet he said he was at the tavern. He could have just said that he was visiting Freya, and Merlin had been somewhat open to talking about her, so he wouldn't lie about visiting her. So that meant that he was doing something else...

Ever since he had met Merlin, there had been something about him that Arthur just couldn't put his finger on. Perhaps this was it, his big secret of sorts... he just couldn't figure out what it was. Arthur promised to himself that he would pay more attention to Merlin, figure out where he was going every time that he was missing.

His head reeling with his memories of Merlin, he went back to the campsite. Merlin's blank, pale, tired face was still leaning against the tree. It was strange to think that this person was hiding some big secret, that there was more about him than met the eye, and yet, what met the eye convinced him that perhaps Arthur was overthinking things. Merlin's thin face just seemed so real, and he told himself that maybe all of the things he was thinking weren't true. Merlin was just a regular boy.

After a couple minutes, Arthur fell asleep.


	9. Gold

Just as Merlin had fallen asleep with the sun setting in his tired eyes, he woke up with the sun rising in his tired eyes. Blinking, he pushed himself up onto his knees, and then stood up. Arthur was already up and eating some bread.

Merlin put a hand over his eyes, shielding them from the sun, and stumbled over to Arthur. "Is it already morning?"

Arthur got up from his spot, put out the fire, and picked up his sword. "Yes. Now, let's get a move on. This journey is taking long enough."

Merlin, thankful that Arthur wasn't asking any questions about Freya, picked up his bags and set them on a horse. Soon, they were riding through the forest towards Lake Avalon.

By the time sun was starting to go down, they reached the lake. They set their things down, and Arthur prepared to go to the lake. Merlin noticed that he had not put down his sword, though they would have no need for it. Nor his dagger or his crossbow.

Merlin realized, if he was to do what he wanted, Arthur could not be there, or even near the lake. He would hear and see everything, and that was something that simply could not happen.

Merlin was walking to the lake when he pointed in the direction behind Arthur, said "Look!" quickly, and took the hilt of a sword and bashed it on the back of Arthur's head. He swayed, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he collapsed into a pile of leaves. Merlin dragged him by the arm so that he was leaning against a wall of rock and moss, and then ran to the lake.

When he got to the shoreline, he wasted no time in summoning Freya. The lake turned gold, and soon she ascended. She glided to the shoreline to embrace Merlin, and gave him a small kiss. When they resurfaced, she said: "What are you doing here, Merlin? Is something wrong?"

He smiled widely and said, "I'm here to bring you back."

She gasped and shook her head. "You can't," she muttered, "Someone will have to die. I don't want that to happen on my behalf."

Merlin shook his head as well, and whispered to her. "Nobody will. I have an idea."

And she smiled, a reluctant smile as she looked up at his boyishly charming face. "Alright," said Freya, granting her permission, "As long as nobody else dies or gets hurt." They held hands, and soon Merlin closed his eyes and leaned into her slowly.

They kissed, a passionate, deep, searching kiss, relieved to have found each other and drinking in every in of each other. Freya wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on her toes to get closer to him, and Merlin had his arms on her back as she ran her hands through his hair.

After a while, the they came apart, arms still wrapped around each other. If anything, they were more in love than before, though it seemed an impossible feat. They stared into each other's eyes, drowning in affection, until they started to talk.

Merlin sat down on the shore, and Freya laid down in the water with her head sticking above the surface.

"How have you been, Merlin?"

Merlin didn't seem to want to answer, but eventually he did reply. "I've been alright. You know me." He said, with a toothy grin, but Freya stroked circles with her thumb on his hand.

"I know you haven't, Merlin." She murmured sadly. "And it's my fault too."

Merlin got up on his knees and then bent downwards towards her sullen face. "No, it's not your fault," he explained, "It's fate. Fate has brought us apart, and fate will bring us back together too. If I'm sad, that's because fate is taking too long."

Freya smiled at him, unable to resist his infectious joy. "It has been too long, Merlin." She looked up at him, but something on his arm caught his eye. "Merlin!" she gasped, and moved forward to get a better look at him.

The burns on his arms were wrapped in bandages, but the bandages were white so you could see the angry red lines going up and down his forearms. It really did look worse than it was. "What happened to you?!"

Merlin had a frank look on his face. "Ah, that. Morgana." And he explained to her the entire story. Freya was being a very good listener. She gasped at all the right parts, and clenched his hand when she had heard what terrible things Morgana had done to them.

Afterwards, Merlin's head snapped up. "I forgot! How have you been, Freya?"

She gave a small smile. "I've been missing you, and that is all I have been doing. You'd think that being Lady of the Lake would be a bit more interesting, wouldn't you?" However, Merlin could tell that she was joking, so he gave a big grin and a chuckle.

Becoming a little more serious, he said: "I've missed this. Missed seeing you, talking to you, missed you." They each gave a shy smile, and leaned in for a smaller, lighter, glad-to-have-you-back kiss. This went on until Merlin remembered that Arthur would not remain unconscious forever. They slowly broke apart.

"I'm sorry. but I don't have much time, Freya. We have to get started. But after this, we will have all the time in the world." Nodding, Freya stepped back into the middle of the lake and Merlin began to chant magical spells.

His eyes glowing gold, like dying embers in their dark surroundings, Merlin's voice grew steadily louder and more rich in power until he was yelling the words. Soon, his eyes flashed the brightest gold, brighter than anything anyone had ever seen, and the magic had done its work. He was able to get in a few words to Freya over the sound of rushing wind.

"You - have - to - kill - yourself -" Merlin shouted over the magic.

"What?" Freya screamed.

"When - you - kill - yourself - it'll - bring the - balance back - to the world and - you - will come back, I - promise... hurry!"

And Freya's eyes glowed gold as well, and she collapsed like a little doll onto the water as the golden surface of the lake exploded outwards, sending a pulse of golden light flying outwards, leaving Lake Avalon navy blue as it had always been. However, the pulse knocked Merlin onto his feet as the golden light disintegrated in the air in a huge explosion.

Though his head was pounding and he had had the wind knocked out of him, Merlin jumped to his feet and waded through the lake to save Freya.

He saw a small ball of light from the top of the lake, and he swam down to it.

Holding his breath, he saw the faces of many magical beings in small bubbles surrounding Freya, who was floating aimlessly. She was surrounded by streaks of gold going this way and that.

The faces in the bubbles calmly said: "We are healing her; she has been very badly hurt. You will find her again soon."

Convinced, as he trusted the water spirits, Merlin swam back up to the surface, where he waded back out and ended up dragging himself to the shore. His head was buzzing and felt very light all of a sudden. As soon as his feet were barely touching the water, his head fell down to the pebbly ground and he passed out.


	10. Grievous Mistakes

When Merlin finally woke up, he was sitting against a tree again. Arthur wasn't eating anything: he was staring straight ahead with a hand supporting his head. When he saw Merlin was awake, he lifted up his head and rubbed his temples.

"Good, you're up." Arthur seemed much too tired or out of it to annoy Merlin. "I have the worst headache." Merlin felt instantly guilty, and his eyes flickered to the ground. "All I can remember is walking to go to the lake with you, and then everything just went dark."

"So what happened between you and Freya?" Merlin felt uncomfortable, but he decided to tell him some sort of truth.

"Something happened while I was at the lake, I don't know... but I think she was coming back to life." He broke into a smile and rubbed his forehead, finally taking it in that he would have his Freya back. And maybe Arthur would accept her for who she was...

Arthur got up and walked to Merlin, where he clapped him on the back. "That's great, Merlin. I'm really happy for you." And he went off into the woods, just putting up his hand and saying, "Getting some firewood. You should keep the fire going, by the way."

Merlin watched Arthur walk away, and then waited a minute or two afterwards until he was certain Arthur was gone. Then he hunched over the fire and whispered, "Forbearn."

The flames leaped, and Merlin jumped backwards, watching as the flames calmed down and became totally normal. And then, suddenly, he felt the tip of a sword against his back. Bandits.

Afraid for Arthur, who was definitely not in the best state, Merlin shouted out, "Arthur!" There was no response for a while, and then, suddenly, a quiet response came.

"You lied to me."

And Merlin, turning around, knowing what he would see but dreading it, saw his best friend with tears in his eyes and the tip of his sword held between Merlin's shoulder blades. "You lied to me for all these years. And I thought you were my best friend."

Merlin drew in short breaths and his eyes watered and turned red. "I - I wanted to tell you, Arthur. I-" but Arthur cut him off.

His face was set, and he let a small tear run down his face. His lip was trembling with both fury and sadness. "No. You are a sorcerer. You have betrayed me. Everything we had, everything you did, everything you said isn't true. You have lied to me, Merlin." As he went on, his words held more and more venom.

Merlin was crying now too, and drawing in short gasps of breath. "I - I've never u-used magic to hurt you, Arthur. I-I've only used it f-for you." For a moment it seemed that Arthur was softened, but he renewed his betrayed expression and Merlin lost hope.

"You have betrayed your people. How does it feel, Merlin? To know that everything you've done in the past years has been only to hurt the people who cared for you?" Merlin drew in another sharp breath at his words, but didn't respond. Arthur gritted his teeth. "How-does-it-feel?!"

Merlin looked up at Arthur, the pain excruciatingly visible in his broken blue eyes. "I never betrayed you." He forced the words out of his mouth, but he gulped back his tears and gasps. "I would never betray you. I've only ever used my magic for you, Arthur, and for Camelot. I would never, ever hurt you." The words were said so strongly, with such confidence, that Arthur was almost surprised out of his anger.

"I have sacrificed so much for you, Arthur.

I lost Freya. I didn't tell you, but the reason she's dead is because you killed her. She's dead because of you, Arthur, and yet my loyalty never wavered. And William! William was my childhood friend, and he sacrificed himself for you. He died for you. And he told you that the magic you saw in Ealdor was his only to protect me, because he knew that if my magic was still present, you might live more days than you would have. And I still remained loyal to you, after these people died on your behalf" Arthur was stunned. he hadn't known any of this, but he felt the guilt rising in his gut.

"The list goes on, Arthur. Balinor, the Dragonlord, died to save me. You know why? Because he was my father. If I had been evil, would all of these good people have died for you and me? Do you think they would have given their lives to betray you? I have lost so much, keeping you safe, risking my own life countless times just to make sure that Camelot still has a King! I have been poisoned, stabbed, hit, punched, stung, kidnapped, tortured, and possessed, and pelted with fruit! All to secure the future of Albion. So when I say that I am loyal to you, Arthur Pendragon, I mean it."

Arthur stepped back, dazed. He had never known his manservant had lost and undergone so much, just for his own sake. Hell, Arthur had even told him to stop crying over his own father's death! Arthur had thrown things at him, called him names, made fun of him, and made his life difficult, and he never had the decency to realize all that Merlin had done for him.

Merlin rose to his feet, simply shaking with anger. "I wield magic, Arthur, only for the sake of you and Camelot. So kill me, if you want, but know that you will be killing a loyal subject, for that is what I am more than anything."

Arthur stepped forward, sword still out and pointing towards Merlin despite the fact that his heart wasn't fully in it. "I don't understand, Merlin. Why would you choose to study magic, knowing that it is against the law? It is treason!"

Merlin looked at him, and shook his head. "I didn't choose, Arthur. I was born a sorcerer. I am a warlock, and a powerful one if I do say so myself." Arthur backed away from him, deterred by how forward and forceful Merlin was being about the whole situation.

Merlin calmed down a bit before saying: "I am Emrys, Arthur. The most powerful sorcerer to ever walk the earth. I know it's... hard to take in, but it's true." Arthur took another step back and shook his head, before raising it to stare at him with newfound terror and fury.

"Emrys." Arthur said, all the venom back in his voice. "I have heard people refer to the evil sorcerer, Dragoon, as Emrys. You - you are Dragoon! You killed my father!"

Merlin, realizing that the scenario was getting out of hand, was the one to step back this time. "No, I didn't kill him, I swear-" but Arthur talked over him again.

"Then who did? I know it was Emrys who killed my father, and you are Emrys! You have betrayed me, and committed treason by killing the King!"

Merlin's eyes widened in horror as he realized that Arthur's rage was out of control. "No, I swear - I tried to heal him, but it was Morgana - she was the one who killed him! She placed an amulet around his neck that reversed any healing magic! I didn't know, I swear! But I would never have killed Uther - I would never, ever hurt you, Arthur."

But Arthur tossed aside his arguments as one would toss aside a used toothpick. "Lies," he spat, "all lies. You have betrayed me, your friend, and you have killed my father. You will pay, Merlin."

Merlin felt his anger taking control as well. "Then maybe you shouldn't have trusted Agravaine! He is the one who really killed Uther as well!" Then he realized the mistake he had made: blaming Arthur for the death of his father.

Arthur dropped his sword, but the look of fire in his eyes burned bright and furious. He stomped towards the retreating figure of Merlin, who was looking very sorry and suddenly helpless.

He punched the side of Merlin's head, hard, and Arthur's ring hit his cheek even harder. But when he saw what look was on Merlin's face, he suddenly realized that he had made a grievous mistake. Merlin was putting his fingers up to his temple, and when they drew away, they were soaked in scarlet blood. He brought his gaze up to Arthur's guilty face, who wearing a sorry expression and finally sensing that perhaps Merlin was right.

How could he have done such a thing? Merlin was his faithful friend, one who had gone into battles and fights with him numerous times, one who had sacrificed himself for Arthur more times than Arthur was sure about, one whose loyalty had never wavered for a second, one who was destined to be by his side as long as he lived. And Arthur had believed this one true friend to be a traitor, and by doing so, he had cost himself the most loyal and brave friend he would ever have. Ever.

Merlin's expression was almost unfathomable. His eyes were cold, dead and hard, and his fingers were still halfway between where his knees were squatting on the ground and the injury on his face. His face was pale, and his mouth was set in a straight line. "Goodbye, Arthur." He muttered.

And then, the most important man in Arthur's life got up and walked away.


	11. Comfort

Merlin was fuming. He had given so much to Arthur, lost so much for him, done so much for him, and yet he was still being punished for how he had protected him. Arthur would never understand. Never.

As he lowered his eyes to the ground, he started to think. Arthur had never been his friend; he was just a servant to him now, if their friendship mattered so little to Arthur. If Arthur wouldn't believe that Merlin only wanted to do good, after knowing him all these years, then perhaps Arthur didn't really know him at all.

Merlin trooped through the forest until his legs could not go any further, where he rested against a tree (he had a thing for trees), but not before putting out a small force field around himself. It made him feel a little bit safer.

A few hours later, he jolted awake. He hadn't realized he had fallen asleep, and it was now dark. Looking around, force field still intact, he realized that there were no people around him. He was alone: Arthur was not with him.

He figured that there was no point in not using magic, because he had already used it and Arthur knew that he was a sorcerer. He was a fugitive now, and if he couldn't use magic, there was nothing left. Without even thinking about it, he whispered, "Forbearn." A small fire erupted in the leaves, but Merlin kept it from spreading with such ease it was as if it costed him no effort at all.

Quickly catching some prey with his skills of being able to see far distances, he quickly killed a rabbit. He was very reluctant, but the rabbit had seemed old and he did need something to eat, after all.

His quick breakfast meant he could depart quickly. He extinguished the flames, which left no mark upon the forest floor, and soon started walking again. He decided that being able to use magic for everything was a hell of a lot easier than not. It was going to be a long journey: he soon wandered around for two weeks looking for a place to stay.

Trooping through the forest, many nights later, he soon came upon a small clearing guarded by trees. If you hadn't gone looking for it, you would never had seen it. It was close to a small brook, so Merlin could go fishing if he wanted. He decided that this was going to be his new home.

With a flash of his eyes, a tree fell down, and he levitated it into the clearing where he started to make a little hut with the pieces of wood. He made quick work of it, and soon enough, he had a small shelter with enough room for a bed, a fireplace, and a table. It wasn't much, but Merlin figured the life he was going to have wouldn't be too grand.

In a flash of guilt, he thought of his destiny with Arthur as the Once and Future King. How was he going to help him? But he began to think that maybe he had already fulfilled his destiny, and that if Arthur still needed him, he would be seeking him out.

Little did he know, Arthur was in fact sending out search parties. He himself had personally come along with Sir Gwaine and Sir Leon, and they were riding through the forest near the path to Avalon.

Leon approached Arthur. "Sire," he said kindly, "May I ask why you and Merlin were out in the woods? And why Merlin has suddenly left?" Grimacing, Arthur grit his teeth and began to think of an acceptable answer. He realized that perhaps the truth was alright to hear: well, maybe not all of it, though.

"Merlin wanted to go see that Freya girl, the Lady of the Lake." He sighed. "I felt bad for him, and joined him on the way there. However, afterwards, we had a bit of a... falling out, and I may have done and said some rash and unfair things. I don't blame him." Leon, seeing the guilt and sadness flooding in Arthur's clear blue eyes, put a hand on his shoulder.

Leon, who was three years senior to the young King, had always been like a big brother to Arthur. He looked kindly into Arthur's eyes. "Sire, it is not your fault. You should not blame yourself like this... Merlin will come round soon enough."

Arthur, though touched at Leon's nice words, felt no better. "You don't understand, Leon." He murmured. "It is completely my fault, and I don't think Merlin will ever accept any apology that I have. What I have done is unforgivable, and now I have lost my best friend."

Leon saw the true despair in Arthur's voice, a resigned and miserable tone that only encouraged the surrogate brother to the King.

He clapped Arthur's shoulder. "Perhaps you are right, but you could also be wrong. We must find Merlin and bring him back to Camelot."

Arthur, confused for a moment at Leon's eagerness to bring Merlin back to Camelot despite the fact that he had broken the law and lied for years, remembered that Leon did not know that Merlin was a sorcerer. And though Arthur wanted to have Merlin back at his side once again, he knew that it was not possible.

However, to please Leon, and to convince himself that Merlin could not be found, they searched for a few more hours until they gave up and returned to Camelot. Arthur was in low spirits, which was only worsened by the fact that the bootlicker George was his temporary (or permanent, now, a thought that terrified Arthur) servant. He retired to bed early, where Guinevere soon joined him.

During all of this, Merlin had constructed a bed frame of sorts and searched for some sort of cloth or something to sleep on. He was wandering through the woods, looking for maybe some cloth or maybe just a soft thing that he have for his bed. Some time after midnight, he was considering using moss when he heard a crunching leaf sort of sound coming from across the brook. He looked up, alert and ready to use his magic against whatever bandits or horrible thing had come his way until he saw the silhouette of a girl.

As she moved closer into view, he recognized the girl. Was it really her? He squinted, recognizing the dark hair, pale skin, and beautiful face. Freya!

She smiled as soon as she saw him, and he ran across the brook and embraced her fully, grateful she was alive and relieved that he had found her and so, so, so in love.

He soon drew himself out of the hug and kissed her, a happy, celebrating kiss that would be the true beginning of their relationship. Merlin could not believe his luck. He might have been stuck out in the middle of the woods, shunned by his friends, but he did have the girl he loved, who he had managed to bring back from the dead, and that was what mattered.

He soon led her to his little hut and showed her around. It took a total of 5 seconds to do so, but he felt it was his duty.

Soon enough, the two had found some nice moss to pile on the bed, and Merlin had magicked two small blankets from a cottage he had found after a long time of searching. It was definitely empty: there were no personal objects there and it appeared as if the building was old and uncared for.

They fell asleep on the bed together, Merlin's arm draped over Freya's waist protectively, and his other hand stroking her hair, but he had fallen asleep in the middle so his hand was supporting her head. Her hand was on top of the one draped across hers, and it was very comfortable.

Once they woke up, Merlin was happier and more content than he had been in ages. He started combing through her hair again. She roused slowly, smiling at first and then opening her eyes. She rolled over and looked at him, both of them giggling.

Soon, though, the woke up enough to ask the question that she had been to elated last night to ask. "Merlin?" she asked cautiously. "Why- why are you here? Why aren't you in Camelot?"

He took a deep breath, and took a long time to reply.

"Arthur - he found out I had magic. And he looked as if he was going to see sense, but then he got really angry because he thought I killed his father when I was actually trying to save him. This happened a while ago... anyway, he got really mad, and uh, things went downhill..." His eyes looked cold and broken, and without realizing it he brought his fingers up to his temple, where Freya could see a large, painful looking bruise that she hadn't noticed before. She gasped and raised her hand to her mouth, realizing what had happened.

She held him in her arms as he dug his head into her shoulders, not crying or whimpering or anything, but she could feel just how much this had hurt him: not physically, but emotionally.

"You should go back to Camelot," she whispered. "You should make up with him. The Arthur that you speak of would never want to do such a thing, and I have a feeling he is very sorry for what he has done. He might take you back, you know, and a life there is better for you. I know it."

Merlin looked up at her, eyes shocked. "But what about you?" he whispered fearfully. She shook her head.

"I will stay outside the city, but close to it. It's too dangerous for others with me there."

Merlin furrowed his eyebrows and said: "No, I want to be with you -" but Freya shushed him.

"It's what I want, Merlin. And, you never know, perhaps the curse hasn't come back with me. I will accompany you to the outskirts of Camelot, but please come check on me in the night. If I do turn, you are the only one who may calm me." Merlin smiled at his ability to do that.

She dragged him up. "Come, Merlin. It's what's best." And they set off for Camelot.


	12. Councils and Chaos

Merlin cast spells around them that made them hard to see: if someone saw them lurking about, their eyes would wander and never quite land on them unless they were trying very hard.

Although Freya wasn't going into Camelot, he didn't want to risk them being caught in the woods. As they snuck through, very aware of everything going on around them, of every sound that they heard.

Eventually, by mid-afternoon, they reached Camelot, where Freya found a small grove to hide in. Merlin gave her a small kiss and a smile before heading into the city, where he took the spell off of him. It didn't matter if people saw him now, because he going to see Arthur anyway, wasn't he?

He strolled up to the castle and inside it, going straight to Arthur's chambers. It seemed that nobody who was really concerned about Merlin saw him... yet.

Gwen was heading down the corridor when she turned a corner and saw somebody who she really had not expected to see. "Merlin!" she shouted, running towards him at an alarming speed before wrapping him in a bone-crushing hug. "You're back!" Merlin assumed Arthur had not told her, surprisingly, by the fact that she was still glad to see him. He wondered why Arthur hadn't told anyone, especially Guinevere... it gave him a small hope that perhaps Merlin wasn't going to be beheaded or burned.

She stepped back, still holding him by the shoulders. "Arthur's going to be so happy to see you." she said kindly. However, at the mention of the King's name, Merlin's eyes flashed with hurt and... was it fear?

She furrowed her brow in worry. "What's wrong?" She asked him.

Realizing that perhaps Gwen had seen how upset he was, Merlin masked his pain. "Oh, nothing." He said, but Gwen wasn't convinced. However, she still smiled and walked with him.

"Where have you been?" she interrogated like a terrified mother. Such questions like that she asked him the whole way to Arthur's chambers, though Merlin didn't tell the whole truth about what had happened. He didn't want to tell Gwen, even though he knew he could trust her.

When he finally got to Arthur's chambers, he swallowed his fear and his pride, took a deep breath, and entered.

It was obvious that Arthur had been a mess. Merlin could see that there was a pile of armor waxing materials in the corner, which had not been there when he was last at Camelot. With an inward groan of pity for Arthur, he realized that it must have been George who was Merlin's substitute. However, it was unlike George to have to room in such a state of un-immaculate-ness, so Arthur must have made this mess all while George was off doing some sort of errand (probably making love to Arthur's armor).

Merlin looked at the full extent of the chaos Arthur had wreaked upon his room. Chairs were knocked over, clothes were all over the floor, a goblet was shattered on the ground near a table and it was clear that the wine had spilled all over the floor. Closet doors were hanging off their hinges, Arthur's bed was indescribably messed up, and papers were strewn every which way on Arthur's desk. A plate of food, nice, good food, sat uneaten upon the table, and it was obvious Arthur had disregarded it without a thought.

The man himself was standing by the window, a hand raking through his hair and the other on his hip. Arthur was not wearing his favorite red, but instead a dark navy blue, and from what Merlin could tell he did not seem well at all.

Upon opening the door, Arthur said, "George, now is really not the time fo-" as he turned around, but seeing his old manservant he gave a cry of relief as a smile spread over his face. He began to walk towards Merlin, grateful that he was there, and shouted, "Bloody hell, Merlin, where have you been! I was -" but the look on his man servant's face silenced him.

His eyes held pain, unimaginable pain and hurt, and when Arthur walked towards him he could feel that Merlin was a bit more alert, and he was eyeing the door. With Arthur, Merlin had never felt this uneasy. Arthur's smile soon slipped off his face once he realized that Merlin was not there to forgive him.

Arthur quickly said, "Look, Merlin, I'm sorry, it was -" But each time Arthur was cut off by the young warlock, because he was simply so miserable that it was impossible to say anything.

Merlin murmured: "Look, Arthur. I have a destiny here in Camelot, I have a destiny with you, and I cannot shrug that off. But nowhere in the prophecy voicing my destiny did it say that we had to be friends. Just know that I am now here, ready to serve you."

Arthur look devastated at how cold and hurtful his friend had been, and he stood there, frozen to the spot as Merlin exited the room. In a still just as shocked form, Arthur dressed himself and headed down to a council with the King Alined that he suddenly really did not want to go to.

Once inside the council meeting, Arthur tried to shake off the horrible feeling that had taken a hold of his gut, and the pressing feeling that he must go find Merlin and right his wrong, but he suppressed both feelings and took up his duty as King.

They discussed laws and peace treaties, and things that should change and things that should stay the same. Soon, Arthur had a brilliant idea that he knew he must suggest, for the good of Merlin and Camelot.

"Listen, men, and keep an open mind." He explained, the full attention of the court resting upon him. "I know that it is going to be hard to adjust to, and that it is against what many of you believe, but I know that it really is the right thing to do. We must lift the ban of magic in Camelot." Though a look of shock and disgust fell upon many of the men in the room, Arthur carried on. "I know that we see it as a force for evil, but in fact it is much like the sword. A sword can be used to kill and hurt innocent people, but at the same time, can be used to protect and defend those same people. It is not the sword that may be evil, but the intent of the user. To ban a sword would be ridiculous, so why is it not ridiculous as well that magic has been banned? I know personally that magic can be used as a force for good, and that by banning it, we have created many enemies of the people who were once loyal to us. So it is on these grounds that I believe that we should no longer ban the use of magic in Camelot." Surprisingly, a majority of the men around him looked persuaded by the King's arguments.

But one man in particular had an expression of both incredulous disbelief and venomous fury written across his face, and that man was King Alined. He stood up and began an instant attack on Arthur's words.

"I apologise for speaking to you in such a manner, but how is it possible that you could consider lifting the ban? You are forgetting that it is by the hands of magic that both of your parents are dead, and many others. Magic is evil, and has been used like such for many years. To lift this ban would be undoing the work of your father, Uther, and causing magic to rampage across the kingdom in a way that we cannot control it. And lifting the ban would also cause great danger for the other kingdoms, would it not? All of the sorcerers would flee to Camelot, whereupon learning that they were treated with kindness that they did not deserve opposed to the other kingdoms, and they would turn upon such lands, including mine. They would wage war, an unstoppable war that would simply be suicide for the common man to fight in. So it would be the death of all other kingdoms for yours to simply lift a ban that for so long maintained peace in the land. So, my lord, though it pains me to say so, if you attempt to lift the ban on magic, I will be forced to wage war on you and your people as well."

Many of the knights and subjects most loyal to Arthur looked affronted, but King Alined did have a point, and a strong one indeed. Though he was most definitely was incorrect (as you, the reader, knows) Alined had won back much of the council members, and it was clear that lifting the ban was not a favorable opinion in this room.

Arthur nodded, defeated, and continued on with the meeting. A feeling of dread filled his stomach, knowing that he could not win back Merlin's trust with the lift of the ban, and that he could not improve the safety of Camelot. It was a horrible feeling, and Arthur left the room feeling very miserable indeed.

When Gaius arrived back from the council meeting, he found Merlin back where he had left him after greeting him and mercilessly interrogating him about what happened. He opened and closed the door, looking grim, and said to Merlin: "Alined had made it clear that he will wage war on any kingdom that lifts the ban against magic." Upon hearing the news, Merlin's head dropped into his hands in despair. He was doomed.


	13. Tension

Merlin walked to Arthur's chambers again, feeling a little hopeful for the return of their friendship, but knew it could not be. Arthur was hostile towards magic. Even if Arthur had acted glad to see him, in the end Arthur's hatred for magic would always win out. It would.

He entered the room again. It seemed that, if possible, Arthur's room had become even more of a mess. He supposed from the key on the table that Arthur had been locking the doors and refusing to let George in to clean. Merlin was sort of just there to do meaningless tasks - George really did the hard work for now. Arthur was on his bed, sleeping. He had not taken off his clothes from the council meeting: Arthur had seemingly collapsed on his bed for a nap.

Merlin opened the drapes and let the sunlight into Arthur's room. Gwen's space was totally clean and spotless, as it seemed, but Arthur had no regard for his items or space. This irritated Merlin, because as his (rather unofficial at the time) servant again, he would be the one to clean all of this up.

Soon he said, "Wake up, sire."

Arthur groaned, happy to wake up to the voice of his best friend, before realizing the words Merlin had said were not what he was used to (a cheerful, 'Rise and shine!' or 'Let's have you, lazy daisy!' that Arthur truly did despise). These words were cold and resigned, empty. They held no affection, or cheerfulness. He remembered what he had done to make Merlin feel this way, and stuffed his head back into his pillows.

Merlin did not drag him out of bed in his joking, playful manner. He did not throw a pillow at him. He simply said coldly, "It's time to get up, sire. It's almost time for supper and I have places to be."

Arthur was confused. Why would Merlin have somewhere to be at this time of night? And then he realized: Freya. She must be back. He wanted to say something about it, but he worried Merlin would not take it well, and kept his mouth shut.

Arthur tried to say as kindly as he could, "Go fetch my food and you can have the rest of the night off." Though his face didn't show it, he could sense the relief that Merlin was feeling. He couldn't help the sinking feeling in his stomach.

Merlin went and brought up Arthur's meal, and headed out, just like Arthur asked. He pointedly tried to ignore the fear in his heart. There was a chance that when Freya came back, the curse came back with her. He dearly hoped it would not be true, but he had to go see her at midnight to make sure it was not.

He headed out of the city, sneakily, after the sun went down. Once he found the grove that Freya was staying in, her ran in to hug her.

"I'm afraid." she whispered. "I don't want to turn into a Bastet again, Merlin. I'm scared."

He held her close and whispered back. "There's a good chance that it won't happen. Don't be worried: even if it does happen, I'll still be here."

Freya calmed down for a little while, but as it neared midnight, she became frantic again. She hyperventilated, and her words became shrill. She started to vibrate uncontrollably, and no matter how much Merlin tried to calm her down, she would not. She became more hysterical as they got closer and closer to midnight, and soon her words sounded like screams. Then, they were screams.

Merlin backed away in despair as he realized the truth that he so desperately wished to ignore and leave behind: the curse had not gone away. She soon started to transform into a Bastet as she dropped to the ground. Her screams became lower and more catlike, and wings sprouted from her back. Soon, she was fully transformed and growling, backing away from Merlin.

Gently, he approached her, holding his hand out but meaning no harm. "Sh, Freya." He hushed. "It's me. Merlin. I don't want to hurt you." The manic look in her eyes faded a bit, and she stopped growling and backing away from him, but stood unmoving on the spot.

He finally got close enough to stroke her head without her backing away, and soon enough, he started laughing aloud. "Freya, are you - purring?!" The look in her eyes was embarrassed, but affectionate as the low noise she had been making abruptly stopped. She laid down and so did he, continuing to stroke her head. Soon, they fell asleep, her large, black cat form switching out with her delicate human body an hour later, but they didn't notice.

1 Month Later

Merlin walked out of Arthur's chambers. He felt very uncomfortable calling him "sire" and "my lord" and casting away Arthur's attempts at friendly banter. The bond between the two was severed, broken like a string cut, but like a string, there were still little strands reaching out and longing for the time when they were bonded.

Merlin always felt a cold, coiled feeling inside whenever he saw the face of his former best friend. Arthur was still reaching out, trying to tie them together, but Merlin didn't feel right. Arthur had hurt him because he had his powers, and even though Arthur hadn't told anyone and had attempted to bring magic back to Camelot, Merlin wasn't ready to forgive him no matter how much Arthur wished it was so.

Gwen had sensed the distance between the two, and had asked both what had happened multiple times, but when she asked Merlin his eyes flashed with the deepest hurt and he hastily changed the subject before escaping the conversation quickly. When she asked Arthur, he only descended into a feeling of extreme guilt and could not talk to anyone for extended periods of time. She knew that the thing causing them such hurt was staying away from each other, but staying away from each other was necessary for not causing any more hurt. It really was a conundrum.

Often she tried to get them in the same place at the same time, but it resulted in cold words from Merlin and disappointment from Arthur. Once, it resulted in Merlin storming away with tears in his eyes and Arthur deserted, standing in the middle of the armory with his fists clenched and his gaze hovering on his shoes.

Gwen knew they needed time to heal, but it seemed that the situation would not get any better. And Merlin seemed worried about something, and constantly tired. The bags under his eyes darkened greatly, but his outlook on life looked like it had improved in a small way, somehow. But it was obvious he was not getting nearly enough sleep as he should.

Guinevere felt the need to mend fences, but before she could do that, she had to know what was wrong. She entered Arthur's chambers, where he was sitting in the middle of his bed with his head in his hands and his hair completely unruly, totally unbefitting of a king. He had been like this for the past month and a half, and she needed her love to be well again. He just wasn't Arthur anymore, not without Merlin.

Quietly, she walked over to where Arthur sat and came down next to him, putting her hand upon his shoulder. He didn't look up as she started to rub his shoulders and back, but he said, "Gwen. I - I just don't know what to do." His voice sounded cracked and broken.

She soothingly said, "Why don't you tell me what's wrong, Arthur? Surely I can be trusted."

Reacting quickly, Arthur said, "Of course I trust you. It's just that - that it's not my secret to tell."

Gwen was worried, but she pressed on. "No, Arthur. I have to know."

Arthur looked up at her with despairing eyes before stating quietly, "Merlin has magic."

Gwen's eyes widened with realization and she brought her hand to her mouth. "Oh," she murmured. "Oh."

Arthur continued on.

"Merlin has been loyal to me all these years. He has never used his magic for greed, or power, or evil, or for personal gain. He has never sought any credit for what sacrifices he has made. And oh, how much he has sacrificed for me.

He has lost the love of his life, Freya. Who, by the way, was killed by me. His father was killed right in front of him. And I? I told him not to cry about the fact that his father was murdered after about a day of knowing him. He lost his best friend, who sacrificed himself for me. And he has been hurt so many times, physically and emotionally. He has almost died for me more times than I know. And you know what I did when I found out? I jumped to the conclusion that he was the reason my father is dead, even though he is not to blame for trying to help. And what I did for him, after this? After all he had been through for me, for Camelot? After he tried to explain the truth? I punched him. Right in his temple. That's why nothing can ever be the same, Guinevere. He'll never forgive me for punishing him for trying to help. For protecting the lives of me, my friends, and my people. He'll never, ever forgive me."

Gwen had gasped at the true misery and despair shining in his eyes. He buried his head in his hands again, and soon she realized that he was crying. Dry, racking, sobs that held no tears but a greater sadness. She held him as he mourned for the other side of his coin, a coin that seemed to have been cast away. Soon, she began to cry too.


	14. Festivity and Forgetfulness

Today was the day of the celebration of the King's coronation. It had been a year since he was put on the throne, so today the entire city, (every last person) was having a large three-day celebration in his honor.

Arthur was not happy like he would be. Like he should have been. But he put up a brave face as all of his knights came to congratulate him and he thanked them and they laughed with him and joked with him and were being nice to him but no Merlin. Merlin was attending to his duties as an unofficial servant, and nothing more.

Merlin was off fetching His Highness' breakfast. He decided that today, of all days, was a day to at least be friendly with Arthur. It was hard being cold to his (old, he reminded himself) best friend, but he knew that he could not forgive him. Arthur would not accept Merlin's magic, and Arthur was mad at Merlin for trying to protect him.

However, it was the anniversary of his becoming King, and Merlin wanted him to feel better. To be able show the people of Camelot that he was fine, even if he wasn't. Merlin reminded himself that it was for Camelot that he did this, not Arthur, but he couldn't quite bring himself to believe those words.

When he walked in the room, he decided to be a little upbeat and cheery. It would improve Arthur's attitude, and the people needed someone to encourage their happiness, (trying and failing to convince himself that it was for Camelot once again) anyway. Arthur was already awake, surprisingly, and eating.

"Good morning, sire!" He said with a smile on his face. Merlin had been planning on saying those words the whole way there: being happy instead of cold, but not addressing him by his name just to let him know that he was not going to miraculously become friends with him again. Arthur lifted up his head, confused at the sudden aura of friendliness his now distant servant was giving off.

"Merlin?" Arthur's voice sounded much better than it had before. For the past month, whenever Arthur had spoken to Merlin, his voice had sounded broken and hollow. The unbearable guilt had taken over Arthur's nature, and nobody in the castle had failed to notice just how horrible Arthur was feeling. "Is everything alright?"

Merlin nodded. "Everything is fine, my lord." He gave another toothy smile, and it was simply impossible to resist. Arthur smiled as well, happy that his servant wasn't keeping up his chilly demeanor for a little while.

So by the time Arthur was headed down to the festival, which was just beginning, he was in high spirits. As he walked onto the balcony, where the whole of Camelot was waiting for the King. As he approached the edge with Guinevere at his side, he looked over his people and smiled. "Let the festival... begin!"

The people yelled as musicians began to start playing, and people danced in the courtyard. People flocked to the marketplace as a great many goods were being sold. Food, toys, beauty products, necklaces, clothes, and drinks. Sir Gwaine was in the tavern, enjoying himself as he admired the many pretty girls there. Sir Elyan and Sir Percival were wandering the marketplace, using their generous pay to buy things for their friends and relatives. Sir Leon was in the courtyard, showing some of the smaller children the horses.

This went on for hours until everyone was called to the courtyard for the King's speech.

Merlin was just wandering around watching the dancers and listening to the many singers and musicians. He was very happy, and the smile on his face was etched there permanently. He was looking around, drinking in the crazy, active scenario when he saw a person cloaked in all black sneaking around the crowd and into a small door leading into the castle. Of course!

Merlin, furrowing his brow, follow the suspicious character. The man slunk behind corridors and stayed hidden, flat against walls. Merlin followed suit, not wanting to be seen by this strange person. He had a bad feeling about whatever he was doing.

Merlin soon realized that this mysterious man was heading towards the balcony where Arthur and Guinevere were watching the festival play out, preparing to give a speech, and he knew that this visitor meant no good for the King and Queen. His muscles tensed as he glimpsed at something under the man's cloak: a dagger with the initials A. P. on them. Arthur Pendragon.

The dagger was meant to kill the King.

This assassin was very skilled, Merlin realized. Nobody had noticed him. Well, except for Merlin, of course. But that was different, anyways.

The assassin made his way to the doors where Arthur and Guinevere were standing, and then silently slit the throat of every guard. Merlin itched to save the lives of these men, to do hat he could to spare them. However, if Merlin wanted to save Arthur, he had to stay hidden. The assassin could not be aware of his presence. It gave him a horrible feeling to see these good people slain by such a terrible one.

Then, the assassin cracked open the door a little. He unsheathed the knife meant for Arthur, and was about to throw it when Merlin did the only thing that he could think of doing: he pushed the man out of the doors and into the open.

The assassin was very surprised, to say the least, to suddenly be out in the daylight where the entirety of Camelot could see him and his intentions. Soon, Merlin was out there too, and he yelled, "Arthur!"

Arthur turned around to see a man in a black cloak with a dagger and a disturbing grin on his face, and a worried Merlin. He drew Excalibur, and Guinevere screamed for the guards. She drew a small dagger out of her belt and backed away, and Merlin moved in front of her to protect her.

The assassin muttered, "Many years I have waited for this moment, Arthur Pendragon. Today is the day that you die."

Arthur looked both alarmed and angry. Soon, the crowd noticed what was going on and shouts and gasps echoed across the city. The knights, scattered everywhere, drew their swords and abandoned what they were doing immediately, but it was to no avail. They were too far away to do anything at this instant.

The assassin grinned again, before flicking his dagger at Arthur. The blade was sharp, and it seemed to give off a black, dark, evil aura. Even its hilt was dark, like a shadow. It spun through the air right on target at Arthur's heart, and the entire festival gave a scream as the enchanted dagger came forth to kill their beloved King.

But it didn't hit. At the last second, a furious look came upon the face of Arthur's manservant (that boy? Angry? Since when?) as he dashed forward and thrusted his hand forward, his eyes glowing gold as the dagger clattered to the ground with a clang.

There was stunned silence for a moment, while everyone in the kingdom's eyes widened, seeing that Merlin had magic. Everyone knew Merlin: he was a kind, young boy who everyone could not help loving. He had helped everyone in some way or another, and many of the young children looked up to him and admired his bravery, loving the stories that he sometimes told them.

To see that this man had magic, that he was a traitor to the kingdom of Camelot was the worst thing that they could have imagined. As the gold faded from his eyes, Arthur slashed at the assassin and he fell to the ground, dead, but the feeling of great danger did not cease.

Gwaine's eyes were wide and his mouth was a small line as he slowly lowered his sword, feeling betrayed and lied to. Gwen had her hand to her mouth and she was backed as far away from Merlin as possible.

Percival, Elyan, and Leon could not believe what they had seen. It was a feeling of great sadness, disappointment, and anger. The display of magic that had been used in front of everyone was angry, aggressive magic, and did not make Merlin look good at all.

Arthur grabbed Merlin's arm, brought him inside the castle, and hissed at him: "What were you thinking? They're going to kill you!" Merlin looked ashamed and on the verge of tears.

He ignored Arthur's question and said what was on his mind. "They - they all hate me now. They think I'm evil... I've lost all my friends." The terrified look on Guinevere's face, though she knew of his secret, was still in his mind. One of his oldest friends... scared of him.

Arthur shook his head. "You have to leave the city, Merlin. It's not safe for you anymore."

Merlin shook his head as well. "Arthur, go. I need to be alone for a second." Arthur was about to protest, but Merlin gripped his arm as well. "Arthur."

Arthur had a look of venom on his face, but he went and grabbed Gwen and brought her inside. Merlin noticed how she was pointedly looking away from him.

As soon as he was sure that Arthur and Gwen were gone, he went back out onto the balcony. People were up there trying to calm everyone down, but Merlin's appearance only riled the crowd more.

He raised up his hands and whispered a spell. Time slowed down to a stop and Merlin used a small spell to make sure that everyone who had seen his magic was still present. Once he was satisfied, he raised his voice to start creating a powerful spell.

The whole of Camelot was taken under: Everyone except for Arthur, Gaius, and Gwen.

They forgot Merlin had magic.


	15. Explaining

Merlin finished the spell, the magic still roaring in his ears. The crowd had all been given a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why the King and Queen were no longer present, and why Merlin was standing up there instead. Everyone seemed to have a sort of glazed look about them.

Merlin walked off the balcony, a little wobbly, and asked one of the dazed looking guards which direction the King and Queen went in. He pointed down the corridor, in a direction Merlin knew would lead to Arthur's chambers. He took off, running frantically.

He burst into the chambers to see Guinevere looking shocked and Arthur angry. Seeing Merlin, Gwen started to tremble, but she didn't back away. Merlin was shaking harder than her, though. Shaking with fear that maybe his friends, who maybe knew his secret, we still scared of him.

He approached them carefully. "Look," he murmured, "I didn't mean to scare you. I was just trying to he-" but Arthur cut him off with a glower.

"Merlin, what. Were. You. Thinking?! The entire kingdom knows you have magic, and they are terrified! What you did was a good thing, but it looked horrible to the people! They're all going to expect me to execute you, and if I don't they will be mad and concerned greatly for their own safety. You realize that the ban has not and cannot be lifted, right?!"

Merlin took a deep breath. "Y-yes, Arthur, I understand that, but... er... how do I put this.." he scratched his head. "They don't know that I have magic." He finally stated.

Arthur was infuriated. "Yes, of course they do! They saw you perform magic, and it most definitely did not go unnoticed!" He raked a hand through his hair.

Merlin started over again. "Let me rephrase that: They don't remember that I have magic." He took a deep breath and gave a sheepish smile.

Arthur was completely shocked. "You-you made them forget you had magic? They entire city of Camelot just had their memories wiped?" Both Arthur and Merlin had nothing to say to that.

Guinevere spoke up. "Then why do we remember? And how on earth is it possible for you to do that? I mean, you must be powerful, but that is a lot of magic."

Merlin said quietly: "I - I made sure that you two remembered. And, er, I am, uh, very powerful."

Gwen furrowed her brow. "What do you mean, powerful?"

Merlin looked sheepish again. "I am, uh, Emrys. The most powerful warlock to ever walk the earth. I am also the last Dragonlord, and have power over life and death and the elements." He hesitated as both Gwen and Arthur were taken aback: perhaps he hadn't covered the whole thing when he explained to Arthur. "I- I know it's a lot to take in, but that's the way I am. Magic is a part of me: I was born with it, and nothing can take that away from me."

Gwen looked hesitant for a moment before realizing that it was Merlin who was speaking with her. "Can - can you show us?" She whispered, her voice wavering slightly. "Can you show us your magic?"

Merlin seemed uncomfortable, at the very least, but he nodded. "Of course."

He rubbed his hands together, coming up with something to do. Soon enough, he decided on what he deemed as acceptable. He started out with a hissing stream of words, which soon elevated in volume for a little while until he was done.

The dragon on the back of Arthur's cape leapt off of the fabric, and its features became more defined. It started to fly around the room, leaving a trail of golden dust in its path, and did a few flips. It soon landed on Merlin's shoulder, who walked over to Arthur and scooped the little dragon up and dropped him into Arthur's arms. He looked a little scared and shocked for a second, before the dragon started to fly around his head and body making little noises. Arthur smiled and started to laugh before the dragon leapt back into his cape.

Arthur looked up at Merlin, amazed. This had gone against everything he'd grown up to believe. He had known that magic was evil, created to destroy and hurt only, but maybe this wasn't so true. He had just seen magic used to create happiness and joy, purely for fun, for the first time in his life. It was nice to know that perhaps something wasn't as bad as you thought.

Merlin stood with a smile on his face, looking hopeful. Arthur decided that maybe now was a good time to be nice to Merlin.

"Wow," he breathed. "That was beautiful. I never knew magic could be used like that."

Gwen didn't know either. She was breath taken, and very pleasantly surprised. It was a nice feeling. However, Merlin wanted to get right down to it.

"I have a few stories to tell you," he said. "So you might want to sit down."

They all took their place at Arthur's table and sat as Merlin's tale was retold: every detail except for the parts that maybe they weren't ready to hear yet.

Arthur and Gwen were amazed at Merlin's bravery, selflessness, and caring. They hadn't known how many times he had been hurt, or sacrificed himself, or beat entire armies and kings and foes and they hadn't even noticed. The things he had lost, the things he had won, the things he cared about, the things he had even killed were included. In the end, they concluded that it was very lucky that Merlin had stayed hidden as a sorcerer for so long.

It was very late at night by the time he was finished, and all three were exhausted, but felt better about everything that happened. It was as if they fully trusted each other, and it was a great feeling. Merlin had been keeping this secret for seven years. To have the weight lifted off of his chest to share with his closest friends who definitely did not hate him was a blessing.

Merlin headed back up to his chambers where Gaius was ready to greet him.

"What happened, boy?! The entire kingdom knows you're a - why are you smiling? Do you truly have a mental affliction?!" Merlin kept smiling, and said:

"Nobody remembers, Gaius. I made them forget. Everyone except for you, Arthur, and Gwen. And they understand! They understand and they don't hate me! They accept my magic!"

Gaius wanted to reprimand him, but seeing the glee on Merlin's face and the immense relief was too good to ruin. Instead he hugged Merlin, and let the boy go right to sleep. He decided that maybe the boy deserved to be happy, and that if his friends truly did understand, that he was in no place to destroy that feeling of ecstasy.

In his sleep, Merlin dreamt of using magic freely in Camelot. He dreamt of Arthur and Gwen being the just rulers he knew they were, and lifting the ban. He dreamt of the many grateful sorcerers who had been hunted most of their lives be accepted into Camelot with open arms. He dreamt of the many happy people who were saved by magic, and the innocents to be saved in the future, and the things to learn and see.

It was the best dream that Merlin could have dreamt.


	16. The Siege of Camelot

Merlin and Freya were happier than they ever had been in months. Gwen had decided to take the initiative and made Freya her personal servant, which both of them really enjoyed. The two were as close as Gwen and Morgana had been, except there was a certain level of understanding that existed between the two. Gwen remembered when she had been a maid as well, so she made sure to make Freya's job as easy as possible as she eased into her new life. Freya deeply appreciated this.

Gaius, Arthur, and Gwen had managed to convince Merlin to let Gwaine know about his magic. It had been tough at first - Merlin had never actually told anybody about his magic, so he figured he'd better just lift the memory spell from Gwaine's mind. It took a while before Gwaine came around, and Merlin once again recounted his tale. After that, Gwaine had never ceased to annoy Merlin about what things he could do for him with his magic. This resulted in Merlin making a list of things that were not going to happen, including: pet unicorns, infinite ale tankards, spells that made you attractive to everyone instantly, pet dragons (Merlin was insistent that this be a rule - Kilgharrah and Gwaine? No.), and mermaid girlfriends.

Merlin and Arthur were also better. Although Merlin's magic was not known by anyone else, Arthur had called him his "unofficial court sorcerer" and there were no lies between the two. Well, almost no lies: Arthur didn't know that Freya was a Bastet, because Merlin felt that he would not want to keep Freya in the city any longer, though they had the curse under control. With Merlin nearby, Freya was easily subdued and had a mind much more like a human.

So it was not unusual for all four of them to be in the same room: Arthur and Gwen were talking, so naturally, so were Freya and Merlin. They were all discussing Camelot, and what they should do on the front of magic. The conversation was going well, and they were making progress when suddenly Sir Leon burst into the room, accompanied by the warning bells.

"Sire," he panted, "Morgana has once again began an attack on Camelot. She is headed for the citadel as we speak." At that, he left to go and fight again.

All four of them widened their eyes and rose up, running out of the room.

Merlin gave Freya a small kiss on the cheek and said: "If it is midnight and I haven't found you, head out of the city. Do not wander back, but if you do, take out as many of Morgana's men as you can." She gave him a weak smile.

"Let us hope that it won't come to that."

Arthur drew his sword, finished with his goodbye to Gwen, and Merlin followed as he ran down the corridor. Gwen and Freya rushed to the infirmary, where the first injured had already begun to flow inside. Arthur and Merlin soon burst out of the door and into the courtyard, where torches fell down and caught the ground on fire, and already many dead littered the ground. How had this happened so quickly?

Near the entrance to the lower town, the knights of Camelot were putting up a good fight. Leon, Gwaine, Elyan, and Percival were all yelling as their swords clashed against those of their opponents: they seemed to be bandits, thieves, and a gruesome sort of type all around.

The Knights of Camelot, though much better equipped, skilled, and feared, were still vastly outnumbered. The Camelot bunch were soon forced into a circle in the middle of the courtyard again, and as the night progressed, they were packed more and more tightly together as waves upon waves of Morgana's evil soldiers attacked. It was a long and bloody night.

Gwen and Freya were working together like equals in the infirmary: quick movements and sharp demands for supplies were used regardless of status. Every now and then, if necessary, Freya would perform a little magic. Gwen turned a blind eye, but every now and then she would call her over asking for some 'special treatment' for the patient. However, it was both physically and emotionally exhausting. It was hard to watch your friends get bound up from some sort of injury and then launch themselves back into the path of danger again in a never-ending cycle. By the middle of the night, both girls were wilting.

By around 2:00 in the morning, all of the fighting suddenly stopped. As if some otherworldly voice had echoed across the city, all of Morgana's men stopped fighting and retreated. This brought up some suspicions and wonderings about why Morgana herself hadn't appeared, and why all of her soldiers had stopped fighting. Needless to say, everyone was terrified.

During the hour or so of cease fire, the knights and the brave commoners who had volunteered to fight were getting tended to by Gaius, Freya, Gwen, and some other servants and physicians from the city. As soon as they were deemed fit to leave, or as fit as they could be, they ran outside to keep watch for any suspicious movement.

Outside the castle, all hell had broken loose. Women, children, and elderly people swelled in numbers outside of the castle, looking for a safe haven. The number grew and grew until Arthur could not bare leaving them out there any longer, and he started to let them in, slowly but surely. Though it was against his will to do so, as the people could be putting themselves closer to the target of the attack, Arthur was afraid there would be rioting and that the soldiers would come back and kill the innocent civilians outside of the castle's defense.

Meanwhile, Sir Elyan was on the castle walls, keeping lookout. His crossbow was ready and he was squinting through the blackness of the night for anything troubling when he saw something blacker than what he thought death would be like, blacker than shadows and ravens and the night sky. It was a huge cloud, billowing with darkness and every now and then a streak of dark purple. And in the middle of it was a evil, smirking, bitter but vengeful looking Morgana.

"Sound the warning bell! Alert the King! Morgana has come to attack!" At this word, the large crowd gathered outside of the castle surged and screamed and stamped and ran towards the door, making way and sparing no thought for the poor people getting trampled at the bottom of the hoard.

Hearing the word of Elyan, Merlin ran out of the castle and towards the crowd. He ripped open the doors and started shouting at the people to hurry, to bring their children, to get inside as fast as they could. The crowd of innocents never seemed to end as they fled into the citadel, Merlin ushering them and helping those who had been wounded.

The poor people at the back of the crowd, the orphans, the injured, and the elderly were finally able to come inside. At this time, some of the braver adults had come back to assist those who could not make their way in their own, but it was taking a while. Soon, there were only about five people left, but Morgana and her cloud of dark smoke were coming ever closer. She smirked again, pleased at what chaos and terror she had caused.

Her voice, louder than humanly possible, echoed across the grounds of Camelot.

"Dear brother," she mocked, smiling, "How wonderful it is to see you again. I am so glad to be welcomed by so many people. Are you planning a surprise party for me in there?" She said airily, pretending to be an innocent child once more. As she said so, she waved her hand, and the smoke started to pile up at her feet and bring her up towards the sky until she was towering over the castle.

"I do hope that there will be a feast," she continued. "How much I used to love those, remember? And how I would smile and laugh, unaware that those people surrounding me cared little for my struggles and sorrows? Do you remember, brother? Because I do! And now how do you feel, knowing that I care little for your struggles and sorrows now either?!" Her expression became twisted with hate and bitterness, and she lifted up her hands more, back the smoke bring her higher and higher into the air. "In fact, I would just love to be the source of them."

Below her, in the courtyard, Merlin was struggling with the last two children. They were both seven at most, and Merlin was helping the one with the bad limp get into the castle first, for he could not get in on his own. The other child started to limp over to the doors as well, but soon the guards gave an apologetic look as if to say: 'We cannot hold the doors open for much longer.'

Merlin was getting angry, and he picked up the child to hurry her over to the doors. A small little bunny toy, a dirtied but well-loved stuffed animal was hanging from her grubby fingers, and at that small, childish sight Merlin spurred himself to move on. He got to the doors, but not before Morgana noticed his running figure. She smiled again.

"Well, hello, Merlin." She said loftily. Merlin could not bring herself to face her. He simply continued to run to the doors. He was about to reach them when she threw a spell at him, and it sped down at an amazing speed before he reached the doors. He was just able to hand over the little girl to the guards before they shut the doors, and he was left alone in the clearing with Morgana.


	17. The Duel

Merlin quickly side-stepped the spell, and turned to face Morgana. She gave a smirk and quickly made a jerking movement with her hand, causing the black smoke to move forward and grab him. Before he was right in front of her face, he twisted and turned around to face the castle. In a window, he was able to see Arthur, Gwen, and Gwaine staring out back at him in total fear and worry.

Merlin lunged a hand out for the window and screamed, "Arthur!" but he was quickly reeled in by Morgana's cloud of darkness. Seeing Merlin, Arthur rushed towards the window and screamed, "Merlin!" back at him, and Gwen had to restrain both Arthur and Gwaine from launching themselves out the window after him.

Freya, who was helping a small child, looked up when Arthur screamed Merlin's name. She rushed over to him and gently pushed him out of the way, where she saw Morgana pulling in Merlin. She quickly screamed, "Merlin!" too, a shrill, loud scream, and Merlin turned his head again and saw her in the window in a pained looking group of people.

"Freya!" He yelled, louder this time but Morgana's smoke snaked up around his arms and his shoulders until only his legs and the very tip of his shoulders were visible. He was struggling, struggling hard, but soon she got bored of his attempts to escape and completely trapped him inside. You could see his body struggling inside the smoke, but after a minute, he went limp.

The whole group gave out a little scream, except for Arthur. His eyes widened and he started to shake his head. "Merlin." he whispered, as he held Gwen and she buried her head in his chest, but he continued to look out the window as Merlin's limp form was dragged inside the mass of smoke. Freya hugged Gwaine (in a friendly way of course - they were pretty close because Gwaine always made Freya feel good about herself) and the four just looked out the window in total despair.

Morgana looked down at the puny, mourning people in the window and chuckled.

"See how you fare without your mighty Emrys." She sneered. "My army is returning."

Most of the people in the castle were confused, but the group of grieving four knew that they were doomed. Merlin had always protected them, as Gwaine knew, and without him to ward off the army of bandits and ruffians they were damned.

Morgana turned and left, each step supported by the darkness. She smirked as she left, knowing that Emrys was stuck in the middle of all of it, probably awake now. She would deal with him soon enough.

As soon as she reached the woods, with a wave of her hand, the darkness dissipated. Merlin fell to the ground, gasping, and he looked up, in a completely different surrounding. He was thoroughly confused and had a bit of a headache, but that didn't stop him from staggering to his feet.

Morgana smirked again. "So the mighty Emrys finally awakens from his beauty sleep," she said sweetly, as if doting on a small child. "Good morning, Emrys." Her sweet tone soon faded. twisting into a smirk. "Or should I say, goodnight." She smiled and with a flash of her eyes, a whirlwind of darkness soon awakened and swirled around Merlin, encasing him in complete blackness.

It surrounded him, but easily enough Merlin poked a hole through the dark coffin, and, from that, he exploded the whole thing outwards. He looked at Morgana, pity in his eyes. "It doesn't have to be like this, Morgana." He said quietly. "I'll give you a chance to leave peacefully. Withdraw your attack on Camelot."

Morgana's face was filled with incredulity. "You fool. I will not stop until I am crowned as the rightful Queen of Camelot, and the people's loyalty lie with me." She lifted her chin in a regal way and put her hands on her hips, envisioning the crown on her head.

Merlin's face hardened. "So be it." He spat, and started chanting a spell. Vines that had not been there before broke through the dirt and started to wrap themselves around Morgana's feet, then legs, then torso. The smallest glint of fear shone in her eyes.

However, with a quickly muttered spell from Morgana, the vines were incinerated by a blanket of fire wrapping itself around the forest floor, shooting outwards in a fast-moving layer on the ground. Merlin's eyes flashed golden again, and he shot up in the air, suddenly flying.

For a second, Merlin was exhilarated. He had never attempted the flying spell before, but it was a great feeling. He felt weightless, and being able to glide on nothing but air made him feel very powerful and more confident. As Morgana forcefully rose her hands upwards, making the flames jump higher and higher, Merlin rose higher and higher until he decided that he could try another something before he ended up hitting his head on the top of the tree.

He pushed his hands forward, and a wall of water formed at his feet in a blockade from the fire. Soon, he transformed the simple wall into a fierce storm cloud, which heavily rained on the flames and put them out.

Meanwhile, Arthur was fighting fiercely through the lines of soldiers, who had once again advanced on Camelot. The citizens were safely inside the citadel, but the knights were outside defending themselves in a flurry of swords, maces, and axes. Some of the braver commoners had joined the knights and were fighting courageously alongside them.

The bandits were slowly, but surely losing. The knights were spurred to action by the loss of their friend, and the pure rage and hatred felt for Morgana and her men caused many of the attackers to fall. During all of this, Arthur was fighting savagely through the many bandits until he finally reached the gates, where he bolted into the woods the way Morgana had headed. In the chaos, nobody noticed.

Arthur kept running, dashing through the trees searching for his friend. Maybe, just maybe Merlin was still alive. Then, he saw a roar of light and heat from somewhere on his left, maybe a quarter of a league away, and he started to run towards that.

When he finally got there, he saw Merlin. He was... was he flying? He was! Arthur was amazed and shocked, but he stayed hidden behind the tree, frozen. Merlin seemed to be standing on top of a storm cloud, like an angry god, and Morgana was on the ground trying but failing to conjure more flames in his heavy downpour.

Suddenly, Merlin muttered something and a blue, crackling light appeared in his hand. It solidified, crackling and sparking even more until Arthur realized Merlin had summoned a lightning bolt. Merlin launched it at Morgana, whose face had become a mask of terror, and she backed away, but soon the malice entered her eyes.

She caught the bolt in what looked like an invisible net, and she picked it up daintily as if it were some sort of delicate work of art. She smiled at it, and then muttered a few words. The bolt changed from light blue to black, with laces of purple, and then she launched it back at Merlin.

He wasn't quite ready, and the bolt struck him in the leg. He howled in pain, and soon the storm cloud started to fade as his energy reserves started to fade as well. The cloud lowered his form down to the ground slowly, where it laid him softly. But without the rain to dampen the flames, the fire leapt high again and started to make its way to Merlin in a straight, dead-on line. Arthur frowned... magic really was terrible in a way, wasn't it? About to destroy a man while he was down.

Merlin lifted his head to see the fire that was coming towards him, and he murmured a few words. The fire was extinguished, and Morgana was launched back with the force of it. Soon, Merlin struggled to his feet, panting, but victorious. Clutching his leg, he limped over to where Morgana lay.

Her breathing was ragged and shallow. She could not lift her head, but soon Merlin made his way into her line of view.

He muttered, "Withdraw your attack on Camelot. Do it now, or I kill you and all of your troops." The idea pained him, but he tried not to let it show.

Morgana was afraid, but determined not to let Emrys be her downfall. She nodded, and sent out a telepathic message to her troops telling them to retreat and stop the attack. After doing so, she let her head fall back again, her breaths becoming quicker and shorter.

She gave him one last evil grin, and with a flash of her eyes, disappeared. As soon as she had gone, Merlin collapsed to his knees, gasping. Arthur, finally unfreezing himself, ran towards him. Merlin looked up at him, not even asking him why he was there. He reached a hand out, but suddenly withdrew it when he saw the look in Arthur's eyes.

Fear. Fear and hesitation. Arthur was afraid of him and his magic, he undoubtedly thought it was evil. He would never allow magic back in Camelot now that he saw what it was capable of. For that matter, he would never allow Merlin back into Camelot now that he saw what he was capable of. Arthur didn't even have to say anything, Merlin just knew it was the truth.

Merlin suddenly said, "Look, Arthur, magic isn't -" But Arthur cut him off.

"Magic is not safe, Merlin. I know that you use it to defend me, but it's not good for you to have. Magic corrupts, Merlin. It costs innocent people their lives and magic will never, ever have a place in Camelot because of it." With each word, more and more hurt was shown in Merlin's eyes until he couldn't bare it anymore. "I know that you are a good person. I know you are, now. But so was Morgana. Having that power, it could destroy you and what you are now. It is not good for my people. And I can't... I can't keep you close to me if you could be corrupted and hurt my kingdom."

Merlin got up to his feet, a hardened resolve on his face, and raised a hand to Arthur. He started to chant, his voice starting out quiet and getting increasingly louder until it was a yell. Then his eyes flashed gold as the magic started to work.

Arthur realized what Merlin was doing, and he suddenly knew that it was a mistake to say those things. "Merlin, no! Look, I'm sorry! I - I didn't mean it, I'm sorry, Merlin. Maybe magic does have a place in Camelot, I was wrong, I'm.." But Arthur's words trailed off as a glazed look came over his face. Merlin's eyes widened and he tried to stop the magic, but it was too late.

Arthur forgot that he had magic.


	18. Double Date

It had been two weeks since the Morgana incident. The castle had been patched up as best they could in that time period and the wounds, both physical and psychological, began to heal. Everything was exactly as it had been, right down to the detail of Arthur, Gwen, and Gwaine not knowing about Merlin's magic anymore.

It had been difficult explaining to Freya that the three just suddenly didn't remember that the two of them had magic anymore. She had to be careful not to mention it to them, because for as long as she had known them (not very long, but long enough to not be used to it), they had known about her magic. It was strange, all the secrecy and the lies, but to Merlin, everything was back to normal. Both of them weren't happy about it, but it was a necessary evil.

However, Arthur, Gwen, and Gwaine were just as friendly towards them as always, and Gwen treated Freya with the same amount of respect and kindness as she had before. This close friendship was the reason why the four had finally (to the reluctance of both males) agreed to go on a double date.

Arthur and Gwen, no matter how much they tried to hide it, shipped Merlin and Freya like there was no tomorrow. So did the rest of the knights, which was why they held an emergency shipping meeting every Saturday and Tuesday, while they were supposed to be having 'extra-special training sessions'. This double date would be a perfect chance to observe their otp, so Arthur could not say no! (This was necessary. Yes. I could not let this opportunity pass me by.)

Merlin was walking the corridor, as he always did, on his way to wake up Arthur and Guinevere. Today was the day of the decided picnic, and they wanted to wake up bright and early so they could have as much time as possible.

"Rise and shine, sire!" Merlin yelled delightedly, throwing open the curtains a little too enthusiastically. He was going to have an entire day off to spend with his friends and Freya! What more could he ask for? Then, it soon occurred to Merlin that perhaps he should call a seamstress, because one of the curtains had ripped in his parade of excitement.

Arthur, far from feeling the joy, groaned and turned over. Gwen was already sitting up and eating the breakfast Merlin had brought them, and she gave him a small, mischievous smile as if to say, "Go on. Do it."

Merlin almost hopped over to Arthur's side of the bed, where he ripped off the sheets and grabbed Arthur's arm, dragging him out of the bed. "Come on!" He bounced excitedly. "It's time for our double date!"

Arthur suddenly turned an impressive shade of red and grabbed the closest thing to him: a goblet. He launched it in Merlin's direction, who then sidestepped him and smiled brilliantly. Arthur did not return the smile. Instead he turned his head to look at Merlin and raised a finger. "Do not," he ordered. "Call it a 'double date' or whatever childish thing you say it is. We are simply going on a picnic."

Merlin dashed out of the door after successfully getting Arthur to wake up, and then poked his head back in after a second. "Off to get the food baskets for our double date!" Arthur groaned again, and sat up to eat his breakfast along with Gwen.

Merlin simply danced down the pathway to the kitchen, where he found two picnic baskets loaded with bread, meat, cheese, fruit, and sweets. They had been made for the King and Queen, and the two royals had demanded that the same quality food be prepared for their servants.

Soon enough, all four were on their horses and ready to leave. Freya was sitting on Merlin's horse, who was riding alongside Arthur and Guinevere's horse. It was a double date after all! Merlin could not contain the smirk that rose to his face every time he glanced at Arthur.

They galloped off into the woods, but before they even reached the first tree, Arthur and Merlin were already engaged in their playful banter. It was suddenly serious banter, because the two were already using words like "clotpole" and "dollophead" which meant that they were doing it hardcore. However, there was no limit to the laughs or smiles.

They had been riding for about twenty minutes when Merlin stopped his horse in a nice little clearing. He pointed it out. "Here's a nice spot." The trees above gave good shade, but the sun was still able to shine through. There were a few wild flowers here and there, and a small burbling brook was to their left. It was the perfect spot.

Gwen sighed. "Oh Merlin, it's beautiful!" Freya and Arthur nodded. They took out the baskets, laid down a blanket, and began to talk.

Arthur looked over to Merlin. "You know, this isn't a bad spot. I'm surprised an idiot like you could find it."

Merlin looked defensive. "Hey! Your own wife said it was beautiful, and I am not an idiot!"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Merlin."

Merlin narrowed his eyes and muttered, "Prat." but he was still smiling.

Arthur gave a quick retort. "Dollophead."

Merlin looked scandalized. "Oi! That's my word, clotpole!"

Arthur straightened his back in order to look regal. "Well, I'm the King, so I get to use whatever insult I want, you insolent toad." It was amazing how much he looked like a petulant five-year-old. This went on for a little while, resulting in Merlin getting noogied for a very, very, very long time.

During this wonderful display of maturity and sophistication, Gwen and Freya were watching, amused. They soon started to talk.

"I can't believe that they act like this. The King and his servant!" Gwen let out a laugh.

Freya laughed too, and said: "Well, that's our boys." Gwen nodded, and they continued to talk and bond over the stupidity of their loved ones while those certain loved ones entered a wrestling match.


	19. Shit Gets Real

The sun was beginning to set on the perfect day. They had started a fire to keep warm, and as it had started to cool down, and both couples were sitting together, holding hands. At first, Arthur was hesitant to relax and be comfortable around them, especially Merlin, but he had soon warmed up to them and was amazed at how in love Merlin and Freya were.

The stories of their childhood, their adventures, and their friends were flowing easily around the four and it was the best time of their life. They laughed, joked, told stories, opened up, and talked about everything. The four were really, truly bonded, and for Freya, it was the first time in her life that so many people accepted her like that.

But soon, it was time to ride back to Camelot. Freya was getting a little edgy, because it was getting late, and so was Merlin. It would be really, really, really bad if she transformed into the Bastet that Arthur had killed all those years ago right in front of Arthur himself, so they started to pack up and got on the horses.

Arthur was giving Gwen a hand up onto the horse, himself on the ground and her getting up when her hand slid out of his grasp. She gave a small gasp before toppling backwards and landing heavily on her ankle. Gwen gave a small whimper of pain as the other two rushed to her side, Arthur already there on the ground beside her.

"Ouch... that really hurts." Gwen moaned as Merlin looked over her ankle with a grimace.

"Don't move it, I think it's broken." Merlin exclaimed. Gwen gave another groan and leaned back into Arthur's arms.

Arthur looked up. "We probably shouldn't ride back to Camelot tonight, the horse ride will jostle her ankle around even more. Merlin, you look over her foot and see if there is anything you can do for now, Freya and I will go and get firewood." Freya looked very uncomfortable at that, but she nodded.

Arthur and Freya went off into the woods, looking for extra twigs and branches. There was silence for a second, and then: "What do you see in Merlin, anyway?"

Freya smiled and looked up at Arthur. "He's the kindest man I know. He's selfless and brave and cared for me when there was nobody else there. Merlin is compassionate, loving, and sees me for who I am. You may not think that it's true, but it is."

Arthur seemed a bit shocked at how much she had said, and the astounding amount of love that filled her voice whenever she spoke of him. He thought of saying something insulting, but it wasn't... right.

"You know, I barely ever see that, but I guess it is there. Merlin is kind and brave and loyal to me, and he loves you. I know he does: he has never felt that way about any girl, ever." Freya was also amazed at his show of compassion: he would never speak that way about Merlin if he were there, Freya knew that much.

They smiled and made a little small talk as they collected wood until both had a good armful of branches, and headed back to their now overnight camp spot. Freya was calmed down a bit from her and Arthur's nice, friendly conversation, and she had come up with a plan should they return to Camelot tomorrow instead of that night.

Once they returned, they put the branches down by the fire and came to Guinevere's side, where Merlin was wrapping a bandage slowly around her foot. He looked up at them and said, "It's definitely broken: she landed very hard on it. We are going to go back tomorrow, once the swelling goes down a bit. Then she can visit Gaius and he can take care of it.

Arthur nodded and sat by Guinevere's side, where he immediately made her more comfortable and laid her head on his stomach. Meanwhile, Merlin and Freya went to the other side of the camp where they began to discuss what would become of her transformation, because it was getting closer and closer to midnight and Freya was getting jumpy again.

Arthur watched in amusement as Merlin and Freya got up, hand in hand, and walked off into the woods. He gave an all-knowing smirk and pointed out the retreating figures to Gwen, who giggled a bit.

As soon as Merlin and Freya were far away, and positive that they were out of earshot, they sat down and Merlin held Freya, who was starting to shake violently again. He stroked her hair and whispered to her quietly. "Shh, it's alright, Freya, I'm here.." he kissed her forehead and hugged her closer.

She shook her head and pulled away so that she could see his face fully. "No, Merlin, it's not alright. What if - what if I go on a rampage and end up k-killing Arthur or Gwen? Or even if they just see me?! They're my new friends, Merlin, and I couldn't bare to show them who I am or what's happened to me. I just couldn't!" She started to cry quietly, tucking her head back in Merlin's chest.

Merlin whispered to her again. "No, I'm here, Freya. Remember, you're - you're calm around me, and if worst comes to worst, I can always use my magic to keep you in this little part of the woods. It'll be fine, Freya, I promise, I swe-" And she suddenly let out a scream and threw herself away from him.

Her shaking became more violent and soon she started to whimper, and the whimper turned deeper and louder until it became a roar. Her wings stretched out once again, and her eyes became a greenish-yellow. She bared her teeth and prepared to leap, her wings spreading. The Bastet could smell humans, somewhere through the forest, and she began to run back to where Arthur and Guinevere lay, surely asleep and defenseless now.

But she caught sight of Merlin, and came to a gradual stop.

He put a hand out to her, and started stroking her as he always did, and this time she calmed down quickly and started purring contentedly. He gave a small laugh, and soon her eyes drooped and she began to walk back to where she had transformed and lay down to sleep. Merlin kept stroking her until he fell asleep as well, and that was how they woke up in the morning.

Returning to the campsite, the two were obviously tired from staying up until midnight but holding hands, glad that they had each other. They were walking closely pressed together, playing around and teasing each other a bit until they got back to the campsite, looking into each other's eyes and absolutely, positively, dripping with love and affection towards each other.

Already awake, Arthur and Gwen were warming themselves up by the fire and eating some leftover bread and apples from the picnic yesterday. Without saying anything, they gave each other a look, the lovers are back sort of extremely embarrassing look. Seeing this, Merlin and Freya's eyes widened and they looked at each other, horrified.

"Do - do you think we -"

"No, we weren't -"

"Nothing happened -"

"We didn't do anything, I swear -"

"You don't seriously think we were, uh, doing things last night, right?" Both Merlin and Freya's faces looked urgent and their eyes were the size of dinner plates.

Arthur and Gwen smirked and exchanged another look. Arthur spoke up, his voice totally unbelieving. "Oh no, we believe you. We know that 'nothing happened' last night, right Guinevere?" She nodded and smirked at them again.

A minute or so later, Gwen stalked up (slowly due to her ankle) to Merlin. "Look here, mister. I will not have you knocking up my friend -" Merlin was once again horrified.

"Gwen, I swear, nothing happened last night we were just -" But before Merlin could come up with a sufficient lie, Gwen cut him off.

"Of course not Merlin. Right." She slapped him in the arm playfully and limped over to Arthur, who helped her on the horse. Merlin helped Freya onto their horse, and they looked at each other and giggled. If their only problem right now was that their friends thought that they had done it, then could life get any better?


	20. Worry, Worry, Worry

Merlin was having a bad time of it.

His sleep, that is.

He was twisting and turning, panting and sweating. The dream he was having was not good, not good at all. His breathing became sharper and louder as he delved into this world of nightmare.

It was dark and dank, and smelled of mold and rainwater. The stone wall was rough and wet, as if it was a cave wall. Two figures were chained to the wall by their arms, and the rest of them were sitting on the floor, slumped over and tired. Their breathing was rasping and long, pitiful.

Soon, the door to their cell opened and light was let in on their faces. They lifted their heads towards the intimidating figure walking over to them, and their breathing became more ragged, searching for air, some good air, enough to fill their lungs well.

It was Leon and Elyan. Their faces were damp with sweat, cut up and bruised, and screwed up in pain.

Merlin sat up suddenly in shock, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead and hyperventilating violently. Without knowing what he was doing, his eyes flashed gold, and objects started to fly around the room crazily and with no direct location of landing.

Merlin's breathing started to ease up, but was still very worried. Leon and Elyan were currently out on a patrol near the border of Odin's kingdom, and now their safety was compromised. Well, definitely more than compromised.

Soon, the objects flying around Merlin's room slowed down, and then dropped out of the air like flies. His breathing went back down to the normal scale, but he didn't go back to sleep. He was scared.

When the sun rose, he trudged out of his room and made himself breathless. Gaius wasn't home right now, he was helping a woman deliver a baby, and apparently he was still helping. It was lucky, because Gaius would surely ask him what was all the commotion, and Merlin just did not want to talk about it.

As soon as he was done with breakfast, and much more awake, he realized that he had to tell Arthur. And look for Leon and Elyan. He launched himself out the door, hurrying to pick up Arthur's breakfast so he could talk to him.

Soon, he barged into Arthur's room. Gwen gave him a smile as she walked out, and Freya soon joined her. Gwen said, "Arthur, we're going for a ride. See you later!" Freya kissed Merlin on the cheek on her way out as Merlin sighed and approached the deliriously tired King who would no doubt refuse to get out of bed and throw something at him and call him an idiot or something worse than that.

Merlin threw open the shades half-heartedly and quietly said, "C'mon Arthur, I have to talk to you. Wake up." Arthur poked his head up at the sudden lack of cheeriness, but soon stuffed it back in his pillow.

Merlin sighed and impatiently walked over to Arthur, where he shook him awake. "Arthur. I need to talk to you." Arthur groaned and threw his other pillow at Merlin's face, who caught it and looked at it longingly. He started to wish that he had slept, or at least he had a more comfortable place to relax.

Arthur turned his head to look at Merlin. He had dark bags under his eyes and looked incredibly worried. Usually, Merlin was happy and very, very annoying: what was wrong? Arthur decided that Merlin needed to be cheered up a bit. "You are an idiot, do you know that?" Merlin didn't return the semi-friendly gesture.

"Arthur," he asked, "Have Leon and Elyan's patrol returned yet?" A hint of Merlin's worry seeped into his words.

Arthur was perturbed. Why did Merlin care? "No, they haven't. It's normal for a patrol to be out this long." Merlin suddenly looked a lot more tired, and worried.

"Arthur, I'm - I'm worried about them. I feel like they're in danger." Arthur furrowed his brow.

"Why, is it another one of your funny feelings again?" Arthur took on a mocking tone. "And we know how reliable that is."

Merlin was not amused. "Yes, very reliable if you remember. I'm always right in the end." Arthur smiled.

"Please, Merlin. They'll come back - they're two of Camelot's finest knights! They can handle themselves. There is no reason to be worried, you're just being stupid."

Arthur thought it was a perfectly good answer, but was disturbed at how little it affected Merlin. He was still tired, and his sapphire eyes were still flooded with worry. There was more to the story, Arthur was sure of it, but Merlin wouldn't be telling. "Well, now that we have that all cleared up -" Arthur knew that it wasn't but there was no proof that Merlin was right - "You can go and polish my armor."

Merlin sighed and got up slowly. As soon as he did, he started to sway and put his hand to his forehead. Arthur sat up in bed, suddenly equally worried. "Merlin?" he said cautiously. "Are you alright?"

Merlin didn't say anything, but suddenly the bags under his eyes and the tired expression was suddenly much more prominent. He started to stagger away, but Arthur jumped out of bed and sat Merlin down, concern written all over his face. Arthur knew that last time Merlin had been feeling faint, and almost passed out, many bad things had happened (refer to first chapter). He put his hands on Merlin's shoulders and said more slowly, "Are you alright?" Merlin nodded.

"I - I just didn't get much sleep last night."

Arthur scrunched his eyebrows and asked another question. "Exactly how much sleep did you get, Merlin?"

"About three hours." However, the lie was obvious. Somehow Merlin had gotten even less sleep than that.

Arthur was outraged. "Merlin! You have to take better care of yourself! I know you're worried but it's no reason to lose slee-" But he was interrupted by screams from the courtyard.

A brown horse was slowly trotting in, and a rider was on his back. But as Arthur came close to the window, he realized the rider was slumped over on the horse. And that there was an arrow sticking out of his back.

Arthur put his hand to his mouth and grabbed Merlin, bringing him carefully down the stairs and outside. "What's happened?" Arthur yelled in his most kingly voice.

As they took the man off the horse, it was obvious that the man was a guard. He had been sent on the patrol... the same patrol with Leon and Elyan on it. As he turned the man over to see his back, and the arrow, there was a note stuck to the arrow.

It read: Hello, King Arthur. I do hope that this note comes to you in one piece, for it contains an important message. I have kidnapped your knights, Sir Leon and 'Sir' Elyan, I believe. They are being held currently in a secure place in my kingdom, and will be ransomed off for you at one hundred gold pieces for each man. All of the guards who accompanied these poor excuses for knights are dead. And thank you, Good King, for your cooperation.

His Majesty, King Odin

Arthur read the note, shocked, and turned around to face his concerned servant.


	21. Alibis

Arthur's mouth hung open in shock. Odin was basically declaring war, Leon and Elyan were being held captive, a number of his guard were dead, and Merlin had somehow known and tried to warn him about it.

He faced a guilty and worried-looking Merlin, who stood still and silent in the drizzle that began to fall down from the sky. The clouds had come quite quickly, too quickly, in fact. When he had woken up it was sunny, with maybe a few white puffy clouds in the sky. Now, it was a dark blanket of gray. It seemed the weather was following the mood of the people.

He walked up to Merlin and spoke quietly. "How - how did you know about this?" An ugly looked passed over his face; it was clear he was concerned, and angry, but not at Merlin. "Did somebody tell you, or -" but Merlin cut him off.

"I just... knew. One of my uncanny funny feelings." Merlin knew that it wasn't right to bring up how he always had the right idea, and that Arthur would think it suspicious, but he was tired. Tired of the lies, tired of the deceit, tired of being the one to save everyone and have nobody notice, tired of being treated like an idiot who knew nothing. He knew more than anyone. "I always turn out to be right, don't I?"

Arthur gave him a funny look and pushed past him. "Nevermind. We must go and rescue them immediately. Ready the horses."

Merlin sighed. "Yes, sire." He ran off rather slowly to the kitchens.

Freya and Gwen came back from the short horse ride, having seen the spooked steed rushing through the forest with an arrow in the back of its rider. Arthur's eyes looked haunted, terrified for his friends. They could be dead, or starved, or hurt, held captive. Gwen rushed up to him and he simply held out the note, which Gwen read and Freya read over her shoulder. Gwen gasped and put a hand to her mouth, the tears rising quickly.

She had grown up with both men. To know that both her brother and childhood friend were being held captive by the enemy and likely being tortured, it was.. it was unthinkable.

And yet it was happening, as Leon and Elyan were unfortunately aware of. The man who had entered the room had left the knights, bloodied, bruised, and badly hurt. Leon's breathing was ragged, and he panted as he turned his head to Elyan. He was not in better shape, with cuts and bruises decorating his exhausted face.

Neither of them spoke, they just sat in their cell and breathed, hoping that Arthur would not come to rescue them, for if he did, he would have a horrible surprise waiting for him...

After an hour or two another figure came in and drew a knife and approached Elyan. Leon was chained to the wall, but if he could, he would skin that man alive. He just hoped that maybe if he and Elyan could hold out, perhaps they could escape on their own or somebody else might help. Just not Arthur. Anybody but Arthur.

Arthur was off to rescue Leon and Elyan.

He and Gwaine, Percival, and Merlin were riding through the woods in a small search party. He knew they were somewhere in Odin's land, and that they were somewhere hidden. It would take a long time to find them, and it was quite dangerous to be in Odin's land as the King of Camelot, but it was a risk he had to take. He would not abandon Leon and Elyan.

The ride was a silent one, with the noticeable gap in their men. Merlin was even quiet, but he was looking wildly around left and right, as if expecting the entirety of Odin's army to come marching through the woods to attack them.

In truth, Merlin was very worried, because he knew that Odin would have sentries and knights and guards and mercenaries crawling the woods around this area, because he could tell that somewhere close to here Leon and Elyan were being held... he just felt it. It was as if somebody had left some magical mark, which was suspicious, but a lead all the same.

As the feeling started to get weaker, Merlin felt more and more panicked. They were going to end up leaving Leon and Elyan... he needed to get them back! "I need a plan..." Merlin thought. "I'm going to have to improvise. Why do I always need to improvise?"

Merlin lagged behind, making sure he was in the back of the group before looking up at a tree branch as his eyes flashed gold. The branch fell in front of his horse, who promptly neighed and reared back, hooves flying in the air. Before Merlin could completely register what happened, he fell off his horse.

"Augh!" He wheezed, all the wind knocked out of him. Arthur looked back at Merlin and just shook his head for a second, and then got off his horse to help Merlin up. As he did so, Merlin swayed and blinked dully. His words were slurred. "Hey - hey Arthur, guess what..." Arthur steadied him as he started to stumble off to the left. "We... we should go.. that... way..." he continued to try to go left, and then fell on his face.

Arthur chuckled and helped him to his feet, but if you squinted hard enough, you would have been able to see the concern laced into his eyes. Merlin had already been exhausted that day, very exhausted, and it looked as if he could have somehow foolishly gotten himself a concussion. Classic Merlin.

Merlin opened his dull, tired eyes a sliver as Arthur laid him against a tree. The knights had stopped and looked concernedly at Merlin, who was weakly attempting to move left. As the rest of the knights made a small camp, Arthur narrowed his eyes at the direction Merlin was pointing in, and after a bit of close searching, he found a hastily covered trail of blood leading off directly to the left.

Arthur returned to the small camp they had made. It wasn't much of a camp; more of a stopping point in which the men had gotten off their horses and laid down their things. He looked around for a second, and then said: "I have a trail. It seems that the secret hideout is in the direction Merlin was pointing in." Arthur gave the man in question another funny look, before drawing his sword and beckoning to the other knights to follow him. Merlin attempted to prop himself up on his elbows, but before he could do anything Gwaine had lain him back down.

"Mate, I'm afraid you're in no condition to fight." It was rare that Gwaine was serious about anything, if at all, but if he was going to be serious is would be concerning Merlin. "You stay here and we'll go ahead." Merlin nodded slowly and closed his eyes.

As soon as the knights were out of sight and had been gone a few minutes, Merlin got up, brushed the leaves and dirt off of him, and wiped at his eyes. It had been difficult to keep them glassy and unfocused, but acting clumsy did come naturally to him, so pretending to have a concussion of some sort wasn't too hard. Besides, the knights of Camelot were not known for their skills in focus and investigation.

He walked down the path, swallowing his worry and fear and letting the braver, more powerful, more Emrys-ey part of his brain take control. He probably looked a lot more confident than he felt, but that didn't matter. He followed the trail of magic, which eventually lead him to a small grate in the side of a stone wall. It was left open, which meant Arthur and the knights had found this way. Just great.

As Merlin slid into the small, dark tunnel behind the grate, and almost fell backwards. The whole place was reeking, crawling, filled with magic. And... it felt bad. Merlin's magic almost started to squirm as if it were a real person at the sheer uncomfortableness that had set in so unexpectedly.

He soon decided to keep moving forward, though it was the last thing he wanted to do, but he had to save Arthur, Leon, Elyan, and the rest of the knights. As he moved onwards, it became clear that there was a powerful sorcerer residing there, and his twisted magic was quite infuriating.

Merlin just thought, "Oh, damn it all to hell. I'm improvising."

He ran straight on until he reached some sort of dark chamber. In the background, he could hear swords clashing and the distant yells of Arthur to his men.

In the front of this room that resembled a throne room was a figure cloaked in black. It was obviously a male, a tall one, who had his back turned to Merlin and did not seem to notice him. Straining his ears, Merlin could hear the beginnings of a spell, muttered darkly. Soon, a shadow appeared out of the man's hands.

He turned around and his hood fell, revealing a scarred and bitter-looking man. A wicked glint shone in his eyes as he spoke in a dark, gravelly, unsettling voice. "Do not think you could evade me, you foolish boy. You think you could defeat me? The thought that you would even try to sneak up on me is a stupid one, boy. You should not think such things... perhaps I should try to end that." And with that, the man rose up his hands as the darkness took the shape of a large skull and shot itself towards Merlin.

Merlin, who was casually leaning against a pillar, sighed. His eyes flashed without the smallest evidence of effort, and the darkness dissipated almost immediately. With a nonchalant click of his fingers, the smoking torched on the walls relit themselves and Merlin stood up straight, stretching as he did so.

"Listen up. I'm really tired of all this, 'young foolish serving boy, you cannot defeat me' crap. I'm really tired of all this 'I will kill you now' crap, too. And I'm really tired of the 'woah, you're a sorcerer, who would ever have thought' crap, most of all. Let's just say I'm done with your crap. And if you'll excuse me, I'm going to foil your pathetic little plan to kill Arthur and the knights and take over Camelot for Morgana, because it really is getting quite old." The sorcerer narrowed his eyes and prepared to fight.

Merlin rolled his eyes and leaned back against the pillar again. "Well, if you're going to be stupid..." Merlin's eyes quickly flashed gold as he raised up his hands powerfully and summoned a... ham sandwich, which he started to eat without giving a sliver of his attention to the very irritated dark sorcerer attempting to be intimidating before him.

The man started to chant, and soon sent a fireball at Merlin, who rolled his eyes and scoffed without moving. His eyes flashed, and the flames flew out as quickly as they had come. Merlin felt proud: a couple months ago, he had been having trouble with that one. But as the sorcerer flung more and more spells at him, Merlin didn't even break a sweat, or even seem to care. After he got tired of the relentless failures of the man, he sent an energy pulse at him, who was blasted back quite forcefully and received a rather serious-looking head wound. Merlin shrugged and finished his sandwich before heading off to find Arthur.

It hadn't taken long, and Merlin pretended to have recovered by making himself some food and drinking some water. Arthur was mad at Merlin for putting himself in danger so soon, and didn't seem to notice that Merlin's eyes were perfectly focused, much more focused than they had a right to be after a fall like that.

Leon and Elyan were in a bad way. The both of them had bloody cuts lacing their bodies and bruises like splotches of paint all over them. Elyan was completely unconscious, and had to be carried by Percival, but Leon was semi-conscious and was helped along carefully by Gwaine.

Leon was watching Merlin the whole time, though. He had heard that Merlin had taken a bad fall, and that he was supposedly better now from the servant and the King arguing, but he didn't really believe it. Especially since there had been a powerful sorcerer keeping the two knights hostage, and they should not have gotten away without seeing him. It was more than suspicious, to say the least, and Leon vowed to figure out what was going on before falling unconscious into Gwaine's supporting arms.


	22. Shadowing Merlin

As Leon awoke, two blurry faces were sitting beside him. They slowly came into focus, and Leon could see both Arthur and Guinevere beside him. Upon seeing him awake, they stood up and leaned over him. "Leon!" Guinevere said with a smile on her face. "You're awake! Oh, we were so worried, Elyan had woken up yesterday and we thought you wouldn't make it..." She rambled on for a second, before stopping. "You get some rest, you'll need i- what are you doing, you've just woken up?!" Gwen attempted to push Leon's shoulders back onto the bed, but she was doing it gently to avoid hurting him and it did nothing to stop his movements.

Leon started to talk, even though he had little strength. "I - I need to see - Merlin..." Arthur furrowed his brow in confusion and moved a bit closer to Leon.

"Merlin? Why would you want to see Merlin?" His voice was incredulous.

Leon tiredly shook his head and put a hand to his forehead. "There - there's something I need to talk to him about, sire..." But before he could do anything, black spots erupted into his vision and Gwen was able to carefully push him back down onto the bed.

"You need to rest, Leon. You'll be alright soon, I believe." It was the last thing he heard before falling unconscious.

Waking up again was a much better feeling than it had been the first time. He felt strong and awake, and his body didn't hurt or ache. All he felt was a small headache, and that was it. In the corner, he could see Gaius sorting through potions and salves, completely clueless to the fact that Leon was awake. Before Gaius could turn around, Leon lightly hopped off the bed and sneaked out of the room. Needless to say, Gaius was thoroughly confused when his patient had suddenly disappeared, but he assumed Leon had gone off as the knights usually did. Leon was in good condition, and Gaius decided to let him be. Besides, he could not bring his old bones to go chasing after the head knight, anyway.

Leon was quickly slipping through the corridors, staying in the shadows. Ahead of him, Merlin was threading his way through the flow of servants, carrying trays of food. It appeared to be lunch time, because at all other times it was not this busy. Leon was lucky; Merlin would not notice somebody shadowing him at such a time.

And yet, every twenty seconds or so, Merlin glanced over his shoulder with a suspicious expression on his face. He should not have known or felt that there was somebody shadowing him: Merlin was just a servant, but he still knew that somebody was keeping track of his movements. Tracking skills like that were only found in the most skilled of knights...

Suddenly, Merlin took a turn off into a corridor that was most definitely not on the route to Arthur's chambers, where he should have been going. Leon hung back for a while before following. However, Merlin's actions did not seem to be suspicious in any way. After walking after Merlin quietly for a couple minutes, he ended up at Arthur's chambers, which Merlin quickly walked into without a knock. Apparently, the route they had taken was just a shortcut to Arthur's rooms.

After waiting approximately ten minutes, Merlin came out of Arthur's rooms in a huff, before storming off in the direction of the armory. Upon arrival, Merlin sat down angrily and started to aggressively polish Arthur's armor. Leon stood by the doorway, peering into the room. He didn't quite know why he was shadowing Merlin like this, but he knew that Merlin had something to do with the miraculous escape of the knights from the sorcerer's custody and Merlin's sudden recovery from what sounded like a mildly serious head injury. And he wanted to find out what Merlin had done that had to do with this.

Leon was snapped out of his reverie when loud footsteps were heard from the end of the corridor. He took refuge behind the open door to the armory that Merlin had so carelessly flung open just minutes ago. When the people came into view, it was obvious that it was what looked like a visiting noble and a few men. Leon wondered why he hadn't known a noble had come before realizing that he had been unconscious for several days, and shook his head. The noble, when you first looked at him, looked like a slimy, slicked back sort of person that would get into a swordfight with someone and then stab them when their back was turned. The people accompanying him looked as if they could be guards, or perhaps mercenaries.

The men stood in the doorway, looking formidable. Leon got out of his spot enough to be able to see what was going on, and it was not looking good.

Merlin stood up, abandoning the armor and his innocent look. "Why are you here, Vormeth? I know it was you who attempted to poison Arthur's lunch today. Luckily, that attempted failed before Arthur could get any of that food into his mouth." Leon frowned at Merlin's strong, authoritative tone. It was not like the Merlin he knew.

The noble spoke back. "Do not take that tone with your betters, boy." He spat. "These are things that are above your little head. The King is going to die, and there is nothing any useless servant can do about it, especially not you. Broden?" A particularly nasty looking man stood forward when he heard his name.

"Take care of the boy. He won't be messing with my plans anymore."

Leon drew his sword quietly, preparing to defend Merlin. The boy was quite useless with a sword, and there would be nothing he could do against these traitors. But, to Leon's surprise, Merlin only smiled.

"Please, it's almost laughable that you think you could kill Arthur or me. He's got me protecting him, even if he doesn't know it. And the trouble Arthur gets into! Oh, both of us are still alive and well, and you think that you could possibly get through me to kill Arthur? You don't know how many times I've saved Arthur's life from petty assassination plans like this. Poison: at least five times, minimum. People trying to discreetly kill him in some sort of fight: More times than you could count. Regular, pathetic old assassins: most likely seven, maybe more. Not a single one of them could manage to get through me. So if you think you're any different, you're in for a big surprise." The man named Broden simply growled and advanced on Merlin.

Merlin's eyes flashed gold, and Leon suppressed a gasp. Merlin - a sorcerer? The men in the armory all froze on the spot before falling asleep. Merlin sighed and started to walk out over all the people, but it was then that Leon decided to make his presence known. He blocked the entrance to the armory, brandishing his sword but making no attempt to use it on Merlin. "Merlin," Leon said cautiously, "What was that?"

Merlin's eyes were wide and he staggered backwards, attempting to form a believable lie. But before he could say anything, Leon moved forward, lowering his sword slowly. "Merlin," he said a little more softly, "Please don't lie to me. What you did and what you have, er, apparently done was brave. I just want to know the truth of the matter."

Merlin nodded, before gulping. "I - I have magic. And I use it to protect Arthur and Camelot - only that, mind you -" He explained hurriedly. "And I would really appreciate it if you kept my secret. If Arthur found out, he might imprison me or banish me or execute me or hate me, and if he did any of those things, I couldn't protect him or the kingdom so please-" But Leon cut him off.

"Don't worry Merlin... I mean, it will take some, er, getting used to, but you can trust me. As long as you protect Arthur and Camelot. But if you do make any move on either of them, I will not side with you." Merlin nodded understandingly, and then grinned.

Merlin tilted his head to the side and suspiciously asked, "Why are you so quick to trust me? I am a sorcerer, after all, and you are a Knight of Camelot."

Leon answered quickly. "I was around age five in the days of the Great Purge. I saw innocent people, some of them friends of my family, get burned at the stake or drowned. Young druid children, some even younger than I was, were killed publicly and their deaths were celebrated. It was a horrible thing, and had I been a knight then, I would have stood against the needless slaughter of hundreds of innocents. I still have nightmares..." Leon shook his head, recovering, before he continued. "But what I mean is that I saw that magic was not all evil, and that the killing of these innocents is not right. I have lost sight of that over the years, and I think maybe I should remedy my judgement on the subject of magic. Watching you protect Arthur like that... I guess I just remembered that maybe magic can be a force for good, as well."

Merlin nodded, and continued to smile for a few seconds until they heard footsteps again and an echoing shout of, "Merlin! Are you done with my armor yet?" Merlin's eyes widened, and he looked at all of the unconscious men lying around. He couldn't very well let them go free from this, but he also couldn't take credit as his harmless manservant. He walked up to Leon quickly.

"Make something up, please, that doesn't involve me knocking out all of these people. Especially don't involve magic, either. He'll believe it more coming from you, anyways." Merlin hissed.

In a second, Arthur was around the corner and suddenly there was a room full of very asleep people. He looked down on them, and then up confusedly at his manservant and the head knight. "What happened?" Arthur half-shouted.

Leon spoke up. "Both me and Merlin were walking down this hallway when we heard these men plotting to assassinate you. Apparently, they already made an attempt on your life-" Leon made a quick glance at Merlin - "but it failed. Anyways, upon hearing this plan, we knocked the men unconscious. I do have Merlin to thank, though. He did most of the work." It was technically the truth.

Arthur looked incredulous, but it seemed as if he bought it. "Merlin? Merlin did most of the work knocking out this noble and his knights? It must have been an accident, because Merlin here can't seem to do anything." At this Merlin grumbled and then exited.

Leon carefully approached Arthur and whispered to him. "Sire, Merlin is more skilled than you believe. He has saved all of our lives many times, and one day you will recognize that. He truly has done many things for you and for Camelot, and I think you should appreciate him more than you do." Having said his part, Leon left a thoroughly confused Arthur alone in the armory besides the pile of unconscious men on the floor.

It wasn't like Leon to reprimand Arthur like that, not like him at all, Arthur thought. Whatever Merlin had done had to have been something. But soon, Arthur dismissed the thought, shrugged, and called in the guards to start lugging the men down to the dungeons. He'd have to ask Merlin later.


	23. Promises

The days in Camelot could not pass by more quickly: Arthur and Gwen were happy together, but they had not yet produced an heir, and had any stranger walked into the castle they could almost feel the tensions. Merlin was very tempted to help, but Arthur and Gwen still knew nothing of Merlin's magic and to try anything would cause another Great Purge. And he could not do that; it would mean his destiny would fail, everything he had ever worked for, and it would put Freya in danger, which was simply not going to happen. And so, though it broke Merlin to see the King and Queen distressed so, he could not do what he knew he had the potential to do.

These thoughts plagued hi, as he stood idly in the throne room during a meeting or ceremony of some sort - he hadn't been paying much attention. Whatever this was, he was bored beyond comprehension, although seeing Freya standing in the corner of the room was a small comfort. He turned his head the slightest degree to look at her, and she met his eye before he winked at her and smiled. She returned the gesture and then they both looked back straight ahead. A couple feet to Merlin's right, Arthur finished what sort of thing he was saying as a squire whispered a message in his ear. Then, a beat later, added: "Here he is now, actually."

Merlin frowned, now wishing he had listened to whatever thing Arthur had said before, when suddenly the doors burst open and a dirty, slimy looking kind of guy strut through.

Arthur, to say the least, did not look pleased to have this man here, but politely greeted him. "Welcome to Camelot, Noldan. I thank you for your services." At this, the man assumed a smug expression.

"Well, catching those dirty magic wretches is what I do. It is my pleasure to cleanse your kingdom of the filth." Noldan drawled arrogantly. And as an afterthought, he added: "Your Highness." Merlin flinched a bit, but it was nothing compared to Freya's reaction. He glanced in her direction, and was surprised to see that the color had leaked out of her skin, and her eyes were widened and filled with fear. She was shaking her head and mouthing 'No,' in what looked like denial while slowly backing away. She got close enough to the door to dash out before anyone noticed what she was doing, which was good, but Merlin itched to follow her. But he stayed in the room while this Noldan continued with his increasingly repulsive talk with Arthur.

It looked as if Noldan was a bounty hunter that Arthur had hired to chase after that night thief that had recently been wreaking havoc in the streets of Camelot. Arthur was convinced that the thief was magical and needed somebody more trained to apprehend him, but Merlin had already investigated and the troublesome burglar was long gone. But this victory wouldn't fair well for Merlin now; the bounty hunter would end up staying for an extended period of time searching for a thief that would never turn up, and while he was there, Merlin and Freya would not be safe.

Merlin stood, discontentedly mulling over this, while Noldan launched into a gruesome monologue that, by the end, had Gwen looking slightly green and Arthur obviously putting a mask over the disgust he felt for this man. As soon as Noldan ended his speech, Arthur dismissed everyone. Before Arthur could even give an obnoxious shout of "Merlin!" the man in question was already long gone.

He was off to chase his mysteriously invisible girlfriend.

Merlin felt a bit guilty that both Gwen and Arthur were now suddenly servant-less, but they'd have to deal with it. Freya was who mattered right now. The only thing that mattered right now, so if she felt that she was in danger, Merlin would do everything in his rather extensive power to stop that feeling.

It took him the better part of an hour to find her, and he almost missed her then. The only way he did eventually find her was when she accidentally let out a small whimper from the corner she was hiding in. The corner was small and dark, behind a pillar in the wall in one of the tallest, most deserted places in the castle. Merlin took a small step closer to investigate, and saw two watery brown eyes gazing tearfully back at him.

The eyes realized what they were seeing, and then relaxed as Merlin approached her cautiously. "Freya?" he murmured gently. "Are you alright?" he sat down slowly next to her. She shook her head as Merlin took her trembling hands in his.

"I - I know that man. He and Halig were the ones who c-captured me. He-he's going to g-get me again and I'm going to be taken away from Camelot and Gwen and you and I'm not going back there, I can't, Merlin, I ca-" Merlin shushed her and took his hands out of hers so he could wrap an arm around her shoulders and let her lean into him.

He began to whisper to her. "Don't worry Freya, I won't let anything happen to you. You know I will protect you - you know that, right? We're just going to have to keep you hidden. I won't risk any harm coming to you. Maybe we'll just go back down to the tunnels, we know it's a pretty safe place. It'll be okay, Freya - we just have to wait for this to blow over. It'll all be fine." In the middle of his monologue, he started to stroke her hair. Eventually, Freya's breathing slowed and she rested her head on his shoulder, finally calm. Merlin quickly kissed her forehead, and then slowly stood up and pulled her to her feet.

"Come on, now. Let's get some food, water, and blankets. I want you to be as comfortable as possible." They set off down the corridor together, holding hands. The air around them was a mix of bittersweet acceptance, full of hope and sadness. Maybe it would be alright if they wished hard enough.

An hour or so later, Freya was quickly walking through the market with Merlin at her side. They pasted smiles on their faces, just so nobody got suspicious, but then they dropped it as soon as they reached the entrance to the catacombs. Freya gave a bittersweet smile as she reached her old spot, and dropped her blankets and arranged the food and candles in an organized manner before sitting back down in her corner.

Merlin joined her, putting an arm around her shoulder again and whispering, "I'll be here as soon as possible, but I do have a prat to answer to. I'll try to get a day or two off for us - I'll say that you're sick and I have to take care of you. At least Gwen will understand. I promise I'll be back right after though, I swear." She looked up at him and smile, and he quickly kissed her and then got up to leave. As he turned the corner, she smiled softly again and turned her head to the wall to sleep.

Meanwhile, a fairly pissed-off Arthur was waiting in his chambers, tapping his foot. He had a council meeting in less than an hour and was still waiting for his incompetent excuse for a manservant to show up for his job. He was just about ready to go to Merlin's chambers where the idiot was probably slacking off and drag the boy by the ear to the stocks when said boy burst the door, chest heaving from what seemed like running for a distance and a guilty look in his eyes. Merlin turned to Arthur and began to speak frantically. "Look, I'm -" but Arthur cut him off.

"And what poor excuse do you have for being missing for more than two hours?"

Merlin's eyes flashed with the smallest hint of hurt before frowning slightly. He murmured defensively, "Freya's sick, I was just taking care of her."

Arthur dropped the obnoxious act for a bit and looked down at his shoes. "Well," he replied softly. "I hope she gets better soon. I'll give you the rest of the day off, then." Merlin smiled and sighed.

"Thanks, I just wanted to let you know. Also could you tell Gwen too? Thanks again." And with that, he ran out the door and Arthur found himself without a servant yet again.

Within minutes, Merlin was back down in the catacombs and holding hands with a tired Freya. She leaned her head on his shoulders and he stroked her hair sadly, humming a soft tune. She sighed quietly, and in response Merlin kissed her lips chastely before pulling away and putting his head on top of hers.

They sat like that for hours, just holding hands and sitting entwined together in a perfect tangle of arms and legs and kissing lips, of young love and ancient sadness. Eventually they laid down together, sleeping side by side for the first time. It was perfect for a short moment, with matching slow breaths and quiet love. But that short moment was suddenly over, and one set of breaths became quick, ragged, and panicked, and what was quiet was soon filled with screams.

Merlin scrambled to his feet, holding up his hands to try and calm and subdue her, but to no avail. In between shouts, she yelled shrilly, "I c-can't g-go back in-into a c-cage!" But before anything else could be said, a Bastet started to form where Freya had been, a panicked look in her eyes. The Bastet saw Merlin, but didn't see him: she would not be calmed tonight. With a fleeting glance, she turned and ran out of the catacombs and into the city.

Merlin stood, shocked for a moment, and then ran after her. He ran out of the catacombs and through the streets, searching for Freya, before suddenly a piercing scream echoed through the night. Merlin rounded the corner, dreading and hoping but knowing what he would see, before the dead body of an old woman came into view and the running figure of a black cat somewhere in the night.


	24. Run

The morning found Gaius, out in the Lower Town investigating the death of the old woman, Merlin looking rather lost as he polished Arthur's armor, Freya somewhere alone in the city, and Arthur and Gwen thoroughly confused about it all. The murder, however, was not confusing, because such similar ones had taken place years earlier but the cause was still fresh in Gaius' mind. It took him no time at all to name the pre-determined cause of death: death by Bastet. And so the physician grimly set back off to his quarters.

When he came back, he was greeted by the sight of Merlin absentmindedly polishing Arthur's already gleaming armor - his mind was obviously somewhere else. Gaius sighed and said, "Merlin." Merlin didn't answer. "Merlin!" Merlin snapped back into reality, surprised.

"Yes?" He answered breathlessly. Gaius set down his physician's bag.

"What happened last night?" Merlin sighed and put down the polishing rag, placing his head in his hands.

"Freya... we went down into the catacombs to hide her there and wait for this whole thing to blow over. When she transformed, she got... scared, or panicked, or something, and I couldn't control her... she left, and killed somebody, and I don't know where she is."

Gaius looked down on Merlin pityingly, before slowly sitting down beside him and putting a hand on his arm. "It's alright, Merlin. You'll find her again."

Merlin took a shaky breath in. "But what if I don't? What if I'm too late, like last time, and she dies again? It'll be my fault, Gaius. And I couldn't handle that." Gaius frowned.

"I'm afraid you'll have to go through with your duties as before. You cannot look through the city in the daytime. Arthur only gave you the rest of yesterday off. Freya is a different story, since she is the one who is 'sick', but you cannot make Arthur suspicious." Merlin sighed.

"Maybe you're right. But as soon as I'm done, I'm going to look for her." And he got up and went to so his duties, but with a heavy heart.

Merlin sighed. Of course, on the day it was most important to get out early, Arthur had given him a pile of chores to get done by sunset. He sat, a bitter frown on his face, and polished Arthur's sword. Then, he was to polish all his armor, do his laundry, and bring him his dinner.

He had to go look for Freya! Less people would be around at this time, and she would be turning into a Bastet soon enough. He had to get her before then. He had to! And Arthur had decided that Merlin really needed a load of chores to do, of course he had.

With a small creak of the door, Leon entered the armory. Merlin gave him a small smile and went back to his work, going at a fast pace.

Leon frowned for a moment as he watched Merlin polish the sword alarmingly fast. "Merlin? Is there somewhere you need to be?" Merlin started at his words.

"Um, yeah. It's really, really important." Leon smiled at him slyly.

"Don't you think there's a... shortcut for that?" Leon said quietly. Merlin smiled a bit too, remembering when Lancelot had said something like that as well. With a flash of his eyes, the armor was gleaming and the pile of laundry he had sitting next to him was miraculously cleaned.

"Thanks, Leon." He said as he walked out to fetch Arthur's dinner, and then run out into the city.

Merlin opened the door without knocking and set Arthur's dinner tray on the table. Arthur looked up suddenly from the paper that he was reading. With a sigh, he picked up his fork and begin to talk, in between bites. "I just can't believe the Bastet is back. I thought I had killed it the last time we saw it so many years ago. And why is it back now, after so much time? The whole thing just confuses me." Merlin bit his lip, wanting to give him the answer, but also deeply hoping that Arthur wouldn't figure out the truth.

Instead, he tried to lead him off the path a bit. "Maybe this is a different one. You never know." Arthur looked up at him, slightly perturbed at the uneasy tone Merlin's voice had taken on, but his words made sense.

"Maybe." He breathed out, and went back to reading his paper while he ate. Merlin let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, and left the room.

He headed up to his room in Gaius' chambers and looked around for a cloak, or maybe something just to cover his face. He was satisfied with a heavy blue cloak that he could pull over his head that cast a shadow over his face. That way, if any of the knights saw him using magic, they couldn't tell it was him.

Folding the cloak in his arms, he walked out of the castle and into the courtyard. Ducking into a corner, he donned the cloak and made sure any of his clothes that were recognizable were hidden, and then came out. He cast a small spell on himself that made him hard to focus on, like he had when he and Freya had snuck back into the city.

Walking around the city after dark wasn't exactly what Merlin would call fun, but it was necessary. He felt himself turning and jumping at every small sound. He remained hopeful that Freya would be found, though, even though she couldn't be found in the alleyways, the catacombs, or many of the streets. Midnight approached, and Merlin's hope waned.

He checked every street, looked down each dark alleyway, and looked around the catacombs probably three times before midnight came. And as he walked down another street, a loud sound and many shouts came from a few streets to his left. Oh no, Merlin thought. They found her first.

And he sprinted off, tearing down the streets and running until he made it to the scene of the crisis. And there stood the Bastet, growling as the Knights surrounded her. Merlin watched for a second before rushing forward, ducking behind a pillar before his eyes glowed gold and a strong gust of wind knocked the Knights off their feet. He winced, but it was something that had to be done.

He sent a mental message to Freya: Get out while you can. Fly away! But all he got was a growl in response. The Knights got to their feet and readied themselves again, before one of the group that Merlin didn't really know yelled, "Attack!" And ran forward, sword in hand and was followed by three other knights. Merlin breathed in and put up an invisible shield around her, so that when the Knights ran into it it looked as the Bastet might have knocked them off their feet.

He sent another message. Go! Go! But yet again there was only another growl. And out of the corner of his eye he saw a knight stealthily creep along the wall behind her to slash at her side. In an instant, Merlin murmured a spell and the knight fell to his feet and gave out a small 'oof'. The Bastet turned to him, and recognizing danger, finally spread her wings and flew off into the knight.

Merlin immediately turned and followed her before realizing that the knights would try and follow her as well. With a sigh, he muttered an enchantment. Immediately, the knights were given the thought that they had the apprehended the beast, and that it was now dead. And with that, Merlin ran off towards the direction she was flying in, probably the catacombs.

He sprinted through the streets, desperate to catch her before she went loose on the city again. And his feet pounded against the stone, his arms flying up and down until he looked slightly left in the alleyways, and came to a slowing halt.

He thought he had seen Morgana, eyes glowing an eerie amber and a finger to her lips. As he turned to go see if she had been there, and jogged back, all he saw in her place was the edge of a black dress and wind mixing up the leaves before the alley was completely deserted again.

Merlin frowned, and though it worried him, he pushed it to the back of his mind. He would think about it later - right now Freya was the most important thing.

He sprinted to the catacombs, where her shaking, but alive human body was awaiting him.

Arthur frowned, but was assured by Noldan and the Knights that the creature had been apprehended. Strange, he hadn't heard too much last night... but he paid the bounty hunter his money and watched him leave.

At least Freya was now back at her post, though. Gwen was very happy about that.

It seemed as if things were resolved... for now.


	25. The Dance

Arthur laughed. Since when was Merlin good at dancing?

He watched from his window as Merlin danced in the courtyard with Freya, among the other crowds of people. The festival in honor of Mithian's arrival had been Gwen's idea, so as not to make Mithian uncomfortable that Gwen was the Queen now. She had decided upon a festival of music and dance, and everyone was thoroughly enjoying it. This was the big dance, which had followed a magnificent feast. Both Arthur and Gwen would attend, but later - Gwen needed time to rest, and Arthur needed time to make fun of Merlin.

He had to say, this festival was much more fun than he had originally thought it would be. Watching Merlin dance with Freya was one of the things he had been looking forward to, though. Merlin was the clumsiest person he had ever seen, so this should be interesting!

He looked on as Freya dragged a blushing Merlin into the groups of people dancing along to the music, and was surprised to see that Merlin wasn't half-bad. He had expected Merlin to trip over and knock over every couple in the ring of people, but he managed to stay on his feet. He gave an approving smile, and felt his heart warm as Freya giggled and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him.

Merlin smiled, but Arthur noticed that he looked a bit pale. Heh, must be tired from trying (and for once succeeding) not to trip over himself. As Freya led him back over to the side, out of the group of dancing people, he started to pant. Arthur's smile faded a little.

He could see Freya slightly worriedly questioning him. Her smile slid off her face slowly, and Merlin put a hand on his head and his side, bending over as he gasped for air. Suddenly, he straightened, his pale face filled with panic. He said something to Freya, and then slid to the ground.

Mithian was having much more fun than she had had in a very long time. It appeared the new Queen, Guinevere, had held a festival of music and dance in honor of her arrival. Mithian appreciated the efforts - it made her feel very welcome, and she was enjoying the festival very much.

As she looked out the window, watching the people dance, she smiled. Camelot truly was a fine kingdom, ruled by kind and just royals.

A soft padding of feet let her know that she was with company. She turned around with a smile, and was greeted with the sight of the Head Knight, Sir Leon. He smiled back at her, and walked so that he was close to her, but still a respectful distance away. That was Sir Leon, ever the gentlemen.

"Are you... enjoying the festival?" He asked slowly. She closed her eyes, taking in the sound of his voice before answering.

"Yes, it was very generous of the Queen to do so for me."

"I imagine it was the Queen's pleasure. You deserve it."

"Why, thank you, Sir Leon. I am enjoying the festival immensely."

He looked down at his shoes, blushing slightly before meeting her eyes again. He had a sly smile. "Would you like to accompany me to the main event of the evening? It is a dance, after all, and I cannot see you going without a partner." She felt her heart pounding - she had wanted this.

"I would love to." She replied softly, trying to reign in her emotions. "There is no other person who I would rather go with."

His large grin betrayed his formal words. "Thank you, my lady."

She sighed softly before adding: "Sir Leon?"

Curiously, he replied. "Yes, my lady?"

"Could we drop the formalities, please?"

He looked incredibly relieved. "Thank goodness." She laughed, and cheekily asked him her next question.

"So how long have you been wanting to ask me to dance?"

He blushed a bit. "For a very long while."

She took a step forward. "And I have been waiting for you to ask me for a long while as well." He looked down at her face, which was now close enough to his to be dubbed 'less than appropriate'.

Damn appropriateness, he thought, and damn the rules. I've broken them before, and I will definitely break them again. And he put his finger under her chin and lifted it up so that she was looking at him, before leaning in and kissing her.

Mithian, though shocked, smiled against his lips and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on her toes so that she could get closer to him. She felt warm and happy inside, a tingling and burning feeling that spread from her lips all through her body.

She was very glad, at that moment, that Arthur had chosen Guinevere instead of her.

Later, Leon was accompanying Mithian to the feast that took place before the dance. She was on his arm, and beaming up at him. He could not believe his luck - him, ending up with a princess who loved him. He smiled back at her warmly, swimming in the feelings that had overtaken him, when something in the background caught his eye.

It was Merlin. He was leaning against a wall, catching his breath and looking quite pale. Leon looked at Mithian, who seemed curious at Leon's worried expression, and said, "Excuse me for a moment, I have to talk to Merlin..." He frowned, kissed her hand, and sped towards Merlin quite quickly.

Leon felt a bit of rising panic - last time Merlin had a hard time breathing, it hadn't been good. Once he got close enough, he said, "Merlin? What's troubling you?"

Merlin looked up, his breathing easing a bit, though still worrying. "I dunno," he gasped. "I've felt like this for a bit - but it's not so bad, really." He quickly added after seeing Leon's concerned expression.

Leon leaned in a bit closer, his tone of voice very quiet and hesitant. "Is there anything you can do with your magic about it?" Merlin made a skeptical look, pursed his lips, and shook his head.

"Don't think so." Leon sighed, and then replied.

"Well, if there's anything I can do..." Merlin's features darkened.

"I don't think there is much, but thanks for the offer." And Leon nodded his head in goodbye, and walked back to where Mithian was watching them curiously.

"What was all that about?" She instantly inquired.

Leon bit his lip as she took his arm they continued their walk to the feast. "I don't know yet... but it's nothing good."

Freya grabbed Merlin's hand and smiled, happy to have him with her. She had been looking forward to the big dance for a long time now, because it was the dance where Merlin finally agreed to dance with her. He had always been wary of dancing - she knew it was because he didn't want to step on her toes.

He smiled as well, and kissed her forehead before bringing her close to him and hugging her, feeling her chest rise and fall steadily against his, which was not-so-steadily struggling along. He half-knew what was happening, but didn't want to believe it.

She then smiled and buried her head in his chest a bit, before looking up and giggling. "Let's go dance," she chimed, and then ran to the group of dancing people with him dragged along behind.

The circle of people was large and fast-moving, and there were many people around him. Merlin summoned every part of him that he knew wasn't clumsy at all, and maybe a tiny bit of magic to keep himself from falling over and hurting somebody. He gave a tiny smile - when he was given his powers, they probably hadn't had it in mind that he would use it for this.

At his smile, Freya looked up at him and giggled, wrapping her arms around him. He looked down at her, and at his arms that were wrapped around her (they looked incredibly pale) and whispered, "Could we go off to the side for a moment? I'm a bit tired." She gave him a curious look, as she should, since they had only been dancing a few minutes, but complied and led him out of the circle.

He caught his breath, taking large, struggling pants as he leaned against a wall, putting one hand on his head and another on his side. She stared at him worriedly. "Merlin?" She inquired. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know," he breathed, doubling over as he gasped for air. "I... I can't get enough... air, and... my head feels... light, and..." He straightened, pure panic filling his features.

"Morgana." He whispered. Turning to Freya, he breathlessly continued. "Get Arthur. Tell him it's happening again." And with that, he slid to the ground, unconscious.


	26. Endings

Arthur wasted no time in rushing down to his friend, who was laying on the ground, unconscious. Freya was sitting beside him, frantic, trying to get him to wake up. Arthur's feet pounded against the cobblestones, and when he finally arrived next to the two, Freya looked up at him and said worriedly, "He- he said it's happening again, and something to do with Morgana, and he couldn't breath, and - Arthur stopped her.

"We need to get him to Gaius right away. He's been cursed, and it will slow and stop his heart, lungs, and brain. It's happened before." He added that on the end for Freya's benefit, although she did know what had happened. With that, he picked up Merlin carefully and got to Gaius' as fast as he could without hurting Merlin in any way.

As he went, he felt a terrible weight bearing down on his heart. It was happening again. Merlin might die.

And when he arrived, Gaius could hardly say a thing. He only sat down, and sent him off to go and tell everyone else. Arthur couldn't bear to look at their faces. They all said the same thing: sadness and worry.

He didn't want to have to go through losing Merlin again. Despite what fronts he might put up, Merlin was like a brother to him, and he never wanted to lose him. And he had already done that once, months and months ago, and he didn't want to go through that again. He didn't want Merlin to go through that again.

A crowd of bowed heads followed him back to Gaius' room.

When he opened the door, Freya was beside Merlin with her hand in his. A helpless was expression written across her face and glistening in the corner of her eyes. She looked up at the group of people who came in, and burst into tears.

"What - happened last time?" She choked out between her tears. Though she knew part of the story, she had never asked what had happened before. It had never seemed like an easy topic to be broached, or maybe it had never been the right time. She wasn't quite sure.

Percival, for once, was the one to answer, after respectfully waiting for either Arthur or Gwen to answer. Their silence was quite clear: I cannot bring myself to explain.

"We - we believe that Morgana cursed Merlin, last time. He almost died, so we tried things, anything to save him, but nothing worked... he asked to be brought into the forest, to some sort of, er, place..." His eyes glazed over momentarily, and then he continued. Freya looked down - so this was to the extent that Merlin had caused everyone to forget. "He got healed, or something. I don't quite remember." A troubled looked flitted over the faces of those in the large group of people who found that they, too, did not know how Merlin had lived.

Freya felt a bit nervous - now, of all times, was the worst time for them to start to doubt the purity of their memory. With the smallest shake to her voice, she tried to changed the subject. It was pointless to ask the symptoms if the curse, as Arthur had told her earlier, and it was quite obvious how long Merlin would last... not the night, for sure. She racked her brain for anything, anything at all, and finally found one minor possibility of a topic change. "Do you think we could wake him up, possibly? Merlin would most likely know what to do."

Arthur frowned and turned from his place on the bench where he had sat down. "Why would Merlin know what to do, more than anyone else?" She cursed herself inwardly - they didn't know Merlin was an expert with magic, or an expert at anything at all, in fact. She was quite useless at this lying business, really - how did Merlin deal?

Well, based on the fact that Merlin had really only wiped their memories, maybe he wasn't that good at lying after all. But, he had kept his secret for so long - if he could lie, then she could too. Or at least come up with some reasonable explanation.

"Well - you said Merlin asked to be brought to the forest, and then he got healed, didn't he? He's been unconscious for a while now, so obviously he could wake up and talk to us. And, then he knew what to do, so why wouldn't he now?" Freya was fairly proud of herself for coming up with such a good answer.

Leon, who was fairly uncomfortable with this whole situation, decided to support Freya. After all, Merlin was in danger, and they were in the best position to help. "Yes - that makes sense. Gaius, is there any way, at all, that we could wake him up?"

Gaius sighed, and looked away before answering. "Yes, but it could have disastrous consequences. We could technically wake up Merlin, using a potion, but after about two or three hours his body will not be able to function any longer. He will shut down into a coma, and from there it is very possible that he could die immediately. It is basically putting him in a state in between life and death, a very precarious position - but we have to assume that by then he will have found a cure, and will be cured before any of that happens. It is risky, yes - but if we let him go on the way he is, he will not last the night. I am almost sure of it." Gaius' voice wavered slightly at the end.

Gwaine stood up, dusting off his pants and looking around. "Well, it's obvious what we have to do, then, isn't it?" Everyone looked at him surprisedly. After fixing them all with an incredulous glance, he continued. "We have to wake him up." Freya wished suddenly that she hadn't brought this up.

Elyan was the first to argue. "But he could slip into a coma and die, Gwaine. It's not worth the risk."

Gwaine's face was mutinous. "So what, then?! We let him die? At least when we wake him up, he has a chance!"

Everyone sat, processing this, before Gwen stood up. "I agree." Everyone's stares were blank with shock. Then, it was Arthur's turn to stand.

"Me, too." He closed his eyes and gulped, and then turned to face Leon, Percival, and Elyan standing too. They all nodded to their King.

Arthur looked to Freya, who was still at Merlin's side, holding his hand with tears pouring down her face. She nodded, and took a gasping breath, before adding, "I agree."

And Gaius got to work, calling around as people fetched ingredients and water, steam coming up from his potion. Freya sat by Merlin's side, her grip on his hand unwavering. She whispered a few words to him, so quietly she could barely hear herself say them. "I need you to stay." She took a breath. "I know it's for selfish reasons, but I want you to stay because you are the reason I'm so happy, you keep me in control, you helped me and cared about me when nobody else did. I love you, I love you so very much and I couldn't handle losing you." She shook her head and wiped away her tears. "This wasn't how I imagined I'd first say I love you, but there was never a better time."

Gaius called over from the other side of the room, and she turned to face him. "The potion is ready." She nodded her head slightly, and stood up and moved a bit away, to where the others stood. Arthur and Gwen held hands tightly as Gaius administered the potion, and then took a step back.

A small cough. Then two. Then, coughing weakly, Merlin sat up and looked around.

"Wha- what happened?"

Everyone looked around, and then Gwaine said: "You... you collapsed, mate. Same thing as last time."

Merlin looked down, and muttered: "Knew Morgana had learned a couple of things from that damn Caillech." Arthur sent him a strange look, but forgot all about it when Merlin put a hand on his head and laid back down, trying to take a deep breath but not quite getting there.

After a moment, Merlin put a hand over his eyes and breathlessly said, "Why did you wake me up?" Gwaine blinked, and answered.

"It's 'cause last time you knew what to do, mate. Thought you might know this time too."

Merlin sighed. "Er, what I did last time, is, uh, no longer an option." He took a slow breath out. "I - I have no idea what to do." Freya's shoulders fell, as did Arthur's.

Arthur looked down, the dread and shame in his chest growing. Had they just forced Merlin to be awake as he died? To suffer as he faded from the world?

They might as well let him say goodbye. "Merlin?" Merlin poked his head up. "Is there anybody you want to say goodbye to - in person?" Merlin thought for a moment.

"I can't say goodbye to my mother," He said, weighing his options, "Because she's too far away. You are all here, so..." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Maybe there is somebody that I would like to say goodbye to. Could you, er, help me find a big clearing?" Merlin figured that he might as well say goodbye to Kilgharrah with the others there - it wasn't as if he would live through this, anyway.

He ignored the exhausted look he received from Gaius. Leon looked as he would comply, no questions asked, though everyone else seemed thoroughly confused. They snapped out of it when Merlin stood up, and swayed on the spot. Gwen jumped up and steadied him, and then sat him back down again.

Arthur shook his head. If Merlin was dying, there wasn't any point in denying his wishes. Last time, they had done as he asked, and he had somehow gotten healed, and that was enough. "Alright," he declared. "Let's go find a bid clearing." And all the knights got up, smiled a bit, and started to move out.

Merlin felt like his lungs were dying.

Well, that was actually perfectly accurate. Maybe he should find himself a different description.

He felt like his lungs were on fire. Yes, that was right. Fire. Because they hurt.

He was well aware that his brain wouldn't function as well. But it still felt kind of weird.

He shook off the cloudiness that had shrouded his brain, and attempted to think more clearly. He needed to call Kilgharrah, but how would he? The amount of oxygen it required was really quite obnoxious. Like, seriously. He had a hard time with it even in perfect health.

Trying to keep his brain from going down another path, he focused on the task at hand. Walking. Right. That thing he was supposed to be doing right now.

He took an unsteady step, and when it didn't kill him immediately, he took another one. Arthur was by his side, following him but also making sure he didn't fall. It had been going like this for a while now, really - Merlin had just been a bit out of it.

He thought that perhaps he had been walking for quite a while, and that the test step he had just taken was completely unnecessary. Oh, well. At least he knew for sure that he wouldn't die from walking.

He continued on a winding path between the trees, with the rest of the group following behind. He didn't completely know where he was going, but that was alright. The Dark Woods had a thing for large clearings.

It wasn't too long until he found one, and once he did, he sat down and rested his head against a tree, totally out of breath. That had taken way too much out of him. He focused only on his breathing - in and out, in and out, in and out, was somebody asking him something? in and out, in and out, in and out, yes, somebody was asking him something, and he should probably respond, in and out.

He looked at the person who was asking him something - was it Arthur? Gwaine? Leon? Yeah, it was Leon. He focused in on Leon's concerned features, and then breathlessly said, "What?"

Leon repeated what he had just asked. "Why are we here?"

Merlin thought for a second. "Uhm... er, oh yeah! I remember now! Er... to call a dragon." Leon moved back.

"A dragon?"

"Yeah, my friend Kilgharrah. He sometimes tells me what to do, could be useful, never know, he might even be able to heal me or somethin'..." He trailed off.

Leon smiled a bit, but still looked confused. "I thought dragons were extinct."

Merlin seemed slightly worried. "No, no... did I never tell you - about that? I'm a dragonlord... can call dragons and stuff... yeah, there are two now!"

Leon was alarmed, but let Merlin be. Merlin was thankful for that - he needed to save as much air as he could.

Everyone seemed a bit confused as to why they were there, and though Leon had been sent over to get more answers, he came back with more questions and a very hasty statement: "He didn't, er, really say why we were here." Arthur looked over to where Merlin sat, and raised an eyebrow.

"Well? What did he say then?" Arthur inquired, and to that Leon looked very uncomfortable.

"Erm, he, uh... he said that one of his friends is, er, going to meet him here."

"How does his friend know to meet him?"

"Uh... he didn't say."

Arthur looked incredulous. "I'm going to go speak to him, then." And he started to walk over. Leon looked very alarmed, though he tried to hide it.

"Sire, I don't think that would be a good idea. He, uh... well, we don't want to make him run out of breath from talking so much, do we?" Arthur looked suspicious, but he complied.

Merlin had been taking in deep breaths for a while, only exhaling slighty. He used a tiny, tiny spell to help him - and it hurt, really, really bad to use his magic. Like, really bad. His head wound pound and his heart burned, along with his lungs, and he really wished he didn't use his magic, but it did help him store air.

Slowly, he staggered to his feet. Leaning against a tree, he gathered up his strength and called to Kilgharrah. His voice sounded low and raspy, and the energy it costed him was more than he thought he had left in his stores. "O drakon, e male so ftengometta tesd'hup'anankes!"

Arthur's head turned, and his eyes widened. What the hell was Merlin doing? He was screaming, in some deep, powerful, completely different language! What the hell?!

As Merlin reached the end of his sentence, he let out a mighty roar that Arthur had only heard in those days many years ago. A roar that had come from the Great Dragon, who had destroyed most of his kingdom.

Arthur's eyes flashed with rage, and he ran over to where Merlin was falling to the ground, his chest heaving as he gasped for air. He helped Merlin get up to his knees, and let him lean against his shoulder before quickly interrogating him. "Merlin," He growled, "What the fucking hell was that?!"

Merlin looked up at his eyes and he raspily answered. "I'm a Dragonlord," He breathed, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips, "Did I never tell you?"

Arthur looked at him, eyes filled with rage, before a loud sound filled his ears. The sound of a dragon's wings beating. He looked to the sky, where a shadow was falling over the trees near the edge of the clearing, and the Great fucking Dragon was about to land. He turned back to Merlin and yelled, "You invited him here?! You idiot! What were you thinking?! And - A Dragonlord? What the hell, Merlin?!"

The others were merely screaming. All the Knights drew their swords, and Gwen and Freya backed up.

The Dragon only seemed amused, before he spoke in a great, booming voice. He spoke English! The Dragon spoke fucking English! "Merlin," He chuckled. "What predicament have you gotten yourself into now?"

Merlin looked up at him, and breathed, "Well, the curse that I got last time I talked to you - yeah, I got healed, and now I have the curse again, and the place I got healed last time isn't, er, well, available."

The Dragon eyed Freya, who backed away more and maintained a fierce gaze. "So, the girl has come back, has she?"

The Knights and Gwen were, needless to say, very confused at that. Freya just seemed scared.

Merlin nodded. "Is - is there anything you can... do, or tell me? Because we... both know what - happens if I really die." Even Freya was confused at that. Leon seemed a bit more uncomfortable.

Kilgharrah seemed thoughtful. "Well, I suppose there isn't much you can do with your ma-" Merlin waved frantically, trying to get him to stop - "gic, so perhaps I could do something."

Arthur's eyes widened, as did Gwen's, Gwaine's, Elyan's, and Percival's. Arthur pushed Merlin off his shoulder, though it was slightly more gentle than he might have done otherwise, and stood up, his eyes filled with betrayal and anger. "You have magic?" His words were whispered, full of hurt and sadness.

Merlin nodded, and put a hand to his head before laying himself down on the grass and taking ragged breaths in and out, in and out. "Kilgharrah," He breathed, "Please - hurry up... I haven't got much time... if you can - do something, anything..."

Kilgharrah looked much less calm, now. "You cannot die now, young warlock." He stated. "Your destiny has not yet been completed." Arthur closed his eyes, a bitter look coming over his features - Merlin was always talking about destiny, and the King he would become, but all this time he had magic. All this time he had been betraying him.

Merlin breathed out. "Kilgharrah, please..."

Kilgharrah closed his eyes and blew out. Arthur flinched, expecting flames to come, but all that came out was a shimmery mist that flew around Merlin, blurring the air around and almost shielding him from sight, but when the dragon stopped, Merlin was still in the same condition.

The dragon truly sounded nervous, now. "Even my magic cannot break the curse! I require the life force that I do not require without a sacrifice. You must not die, Emrys - the world will rip itself apart!"

But Merlin's eyelids were drooping, and everyone else was in various states of anger or worry. Freya clutched at her chest, feeling something within her starting to fade. Her magic was leaving her, just as Merlin was leaving the world, and it hurt more than anything. Her eyes filled with tears, and she staggered over to where Merlin lay dying.

His eyelids were almost closed, and she held his hand. "Merlin," She gasped, "You cannot leave me, just as you cannot leave this world. I am not able to handle you leaving, and the world cannot live in your absence. Please, please don't leave me."

She laid her head on his barely-moving chest and sighed. She wanted him to live.

But apparently the gods despised her, for moments later his eyes closed. And from then on, Merlin's livelihood was compromised.

Just a couple of meters over, complete chaos was going on.

Arthur had trudged over to everyone else in the group, and as it started to cloud over and rain heavily, he faced everyone else. They looked at him curiously, and he answered them bitterly. "Merlin is a Dragonlord. And he has magic." Everyone recoiled in shock, except for Leon who looked very, very uncomfortable.

Gwaine seemed insulted. "How could he not tell me? I thought we were better friends than that..." Percival laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Gwen was in shock. "But... but... how could he?"

Elyan wasn't talking at all.

Leon seemed much, much more uncomfortable now. "Um, I knew."

Percival seemed confused at this. "How did you know?"

Leon scratched the back of his neck. "I, er, found out by accident."

Arthur was livid. "You're telling me that my Head Knight knew that my own manservant had magic, and he didn't think to tell me?" His face was slowly going red, but it was hard to see in the rain that was come down in buckets.

Leon offered up an explanation. "He had good reason, sire."

Arthur pouted. "I don't care if he had good reason, magic is treason in this kingdo-" Kilgharrah interrupted him.

"Stop! The world is ripping itself apart at the seams and your friend is dying, and all you can do is pointlessly bicker? I expected more from you, my King!" Arthur seemed a bit troubled to have a dragon call him 'My King', but didn't respond.

"You do not understand or appreciate all that Merlin has done. I know what good he has done for Camelot, and for all of you - you must stop this silly banter and help." And with that, he sent down the shimmering mist and Arthur knew no more.

When his eyes opened, he was seeing a Merlin about seven years younger than he actually was. With a snarl, he approached him and went to ask what was going on, but the younger Merlin didn't seem to notice.

And so he watched as Merlin saved Gaius' life, and then all of the court, and then his own life.

And then he watched Merlin save his life again, and again, and again, and again, and then he watched Merlin save all of Camelot, multiple times.

He watched as Merlin lost almost everyone around him, watched them die and watched Merlin sob and then hide his pain.

Merlin was the most heroic and good person he had ever known.

There was no chance that there was any part of Merlin that was even slightly bad.

His heart filled with affection as he started to come to, the flashes of images and stories and feelings still imprinted in his mind. He wasn't aware for a second, and then he was.

The sky was thundering and there were flashes of lightning everywhere. The grass was shaky, as if the earth itself was losing its balance. The edges of his vision was tinged with blackness.

Kilgharrah was screaming.

The sound was low and guttural, denying, and Arthur assumed he was screaming "NOOO!"

Freya's inconsistent shrieks could be heard underneath, and she sounded more like she was in pain than in mourning.

Mourning. The word was a blow to Arthur's heart, as he remembered.

Merlin was dying.

He felt as if he had been struck over the head. He shakily got to his feet, and tried not to fall over as the world shook beneath him. Through the pouring rain, he could see the blurry form of Merlin's body laying on the ground. Behind him, he could hear Guinevere sobbing, and turned to see her.

Her hands were raking through her hair, and she looked like she didn't know what to do. Then, through the wind and the rain, she staggered over to where Merlin was, and then dropped to his side and sobbed.

Arthur put one foot forward, and then another, and another, and soon he was running over what had been the ground but was now mud. He fell to his knees near Merlin's head, and then wrapped his arms around Merlin's neck and held him from behind. He was aware of the other knights coming around and sitting, silent tears falling down their faces.

Merlin had been so brave. So, so brave.

Lightning flashed in the background, illuminating the scene around them. Arthur lifted his head, and the lightning flashed again. In the background, he saw a woman clothed in all black watching them.

Morgana.

A dark expression coming over his face, he stood up, drew his sword, and ran over to where Morgana stood. She had an expression of utmost pain and sorrow drawn over her features and a hand fisted on her chest, knuckles white. She hardly seemed to notice him.

Arthur gave her a venomous glance before growling, "Why are you here?"

Words almost seemed to escape her, but she reeled them in slowly and finally answered quietly. "I am a High Priestess of the Old Religion. Emrys is dying. I need to help."

Arthur looked at her, disbelieving, and said, "What?"

Her eyes were focused on Merlin's body a couple meters away. "Emrys is dying. I must heal him, or magic and all the world will die." Arthur's face was blank with shock.

She then brought her eyes down to the ground and whispered, "I want you to kill me, Arthur." Arthur's eyes widened, and he lowered his sword slowly.

"Kill you?"

"I must trade my life for Emrys'. It is my duty and an honour to protect him, I see this now. I will make up for all of my misdeeds, and in my last moments I shall save the world and the one I am bound to serve." Arthur didn't speak.

Finally, her eyes focused on him. They were soft and as they were before she had been destroyed. She breathed out quietly, and took a step closer. She bit her lip, and then murmured, "I can sense that Merlin is teetering on the edge of life and death - I need to save him before he dies and the world is ended." After a pause in which he did not move at all, she continued. "It's what I want, Arthur. Please."

Arthur looked down, and then nodded. He brought up Excalibur, and then thrusted it into her stomach.

She gasped, eyes wide but conveying a gratitude and love that had been so empty from her for the past years. Arthur's eyes filled with tears, and he put a hand at her back as she slowly sank to the ground.

Her knees bent, and she was almost on the ground. Arthur knew that this was Morgana's final moment - he just didn't want to believe, that after all this time, she was back and leaving him.

She gave him a small smile, and then raised her hand. It glowed with energy, and she rested the palm on the ground. Golden swirls danced on the ground, flowing and dancing and going to where Merlin lay, surrounded with people who were watching as Morgana lay dying.

She let out a small breath, so quiet it was like a sigh. Her eyes flashed gold, just once, and then they faded to her light green again, but this time there was something missing behind the pair.

Morgana Pendragon was dead.

Arthur looked down at the peaceful body of his half-sister, and then his eyes followed the golden trail her magic was leaving behind on the ground. It reached Merlin, flying up from the ground and bouncing and sparking around his body, leaving little trails of golden dust floating through the air as it traced a path all over his body. Then, the dust fell from where it floated onto him. He glowed a brilliant gold, and then went back to normal.

Arthur ran to where the others sat. Everyone was drawn back, watching the wonderful spectacle, waiting with the tear tracks down their faces illuminated by the wonderful magic that was fixing their friend. And then, a single, loud, strong breath filled the suddenly still air, and Merlin sat up.

He opened his eyes, where the ghost of a golden flash was still lingering in his eyes. He exhaled for a moment, and the smallest tinge of a smile graced his features.

Arthur jumped, putting his arms around Merlin's neck and holding him close. "Thank you," he choked out. "Thank you for all you have done." Merlin closed his eyes and hugged him back, glad to be alive and to be able to feel these things.

Arthur pulled back, and watched as Freya embraced Merlin too, and whispered words in his ear. He smiled, and then whispered something back. Soon, everyone in the group was hugging Merlin, and helping him up.

Arthur looked back to where Morgana lay, and then walked over. Her eyes were still open. He frowned - she should be able to be at peace, to look as if she were only asleep. He kneeled down and softly put two fingers on her eyelids and closed them.

Looking down at her, she looked more beautiful than she ever had, with a smile on her lips and a serene look on her face.

Arthur heard footsteps behind him, and turned to see Merlin with a sorrowful look in his eyes. Arthur stood up and moved next to Merlin before speaking. "You know, it wasn't your fault she was like that."

Merlin seemed surprised. "What?"

"It wasn't your fault that Morgana turned out the way she did; it was Morgause's. You tried to help her, again and again, but she would never listen. Never liked to accept help much, Morgana." He chuckled, and then continued. "I know you think she was like that because you poisoned her, but truly you were just trying to save Camelot, and she was already lost. You shouldn't blame yourself, Merlin."

Merlin looked down and bit his lip. "I know, but - it just hurts to think that things ended like this for her. I feel terrible for it."

Arthur looked at Merlin a moment before saying, "She died a hero. She did - she sacrificed herself for you, and doing so she saved both magic and the world. Morgana, in the end, was a hero." Merlin smiled, and then it faded off his face after a moment.

"We should give her a hero's funeral, then."

And that was how the group found themselves trooping through the woods, Arthur holding Morgana, until they finally found the right place.

Lake Avalon.

Where their story had begun and ended.

Merlin summoned the boat from the sides of the lake, and when it centered, he whispered, "Blóstmá." Many flowers appeared in the boat, and Arthur waded in and set Morgana in the middle. Then, Merlin continued with another spell. "Astyre. Wæcce on sæbát bælfýr mæst." The boat set fire, and Arthur watched for a moment as it floated away before turning and walking back to where his closest friends stood in a line, watching their worst enemy being given a hero's funeral, as she deserved.

In many years, their lives would blossom. Merlin and Arthur's destiny would come to pass, as Arthur legalized magic as soon as he got home, and subdued Alined and his political issues. Merlin was made Court Sorcerer immediately.

Gwen and Arthur would have two children, who they loved and cherished and grew up to be great rulers like their parents had been. Merlin and Freya had one child, who Freya and Gwen spoiled like mad. Leon would finally settle down with Mithian, which made all of the Knights incredible happy.

Gwaine and Percival both shared the job as Head Knight. Elyan became one of Arthur's closest advisors, as well as a knight. Morgana's name, though before loathed, was one spoken with affection and respect.

Camelot would be peaceful and happy.

But that was years in the future, all things that were yet to happen. For now, the group stood on the shores of Lake Avalon.

And then, they turned to face Camelot, and together, they took their first step into the future.

A/N: Legit crying right now. This has taken me six months to make, and I really couldn't be more happy. Thank you, to everyone!


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